18 



taken many individuals of the latter schizoiml in stomachs of 

 sehastes caught in the Kristiania-fjord. 



Of amphipods in stomachs of green-cod (Feb. 8th, 1897, 

 Sundero) may be mentioned parathemisto ohlivia, euthemisto com- 

 pressa, and euthemisto Usinmsa. The two latter ones have only 

 been observed in a single locality, viz. at Soro in Western Finmark 



(G. 0. Saes). 



During the fishing at Rost at the end of April 1897 there 

 occurred, together with the ocean cod, several other fishes, as torsk 

 (irosmius brosme), ling (molva vulgaris), haddock (gadus mglefinus), 

 halibut (hippoglossus vulgaris), sea-cat (anarrhicas lupus), Norway 

 haddock (sehastes marinus). It was difficult to examine the stomach 

 contents of torsk and ling as the stomach as a rule stood far out of the 

 mouth when the fishes came into the boat. Only exceptionally the 

 stomach had its natural position. In stomachs of lings I saw 

 bones of haddock (both at Eost and at Sundero). In stomachs of 

 torsk were found deca2}od Crustacea, chiefly lithodes maja, the spines 

 of which were visible on the outside of the stomach, without however 

 having pierced the stomach bag. Besides Crustacea I have seen 

 annelida (leodice) in the stomach of torsk. The gut of anarrhichas 

 was as a rule filled with a gruel derived from echinodermata. 



The largest ling I saw during my stay at Eost measured 1.5 

 metre. The females had at the end of April unripe roe. 



On the feeding circumstances of the haddock in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bergen, some observations have been made. 



Mr. Gbieg, curator at the Bergen Museum, has defined the 

 following forms from the stomach and gut of the haddock: 



July 9th, 1897. Hjelte-fjord. 



Ophiopholis aculeata, ophiura squamosa, ampUura 

 squamata, echinocyamus pusillus, lima Mans, I. loscomU, 

 limatula elliptica, I. subauriculata, cardium fasciatum. 

 The most common of these forms were lima Mans and 

 loscombi, cardium fasciatum, and opUura squamosa. 



Dec. 16th, 1897. Herlo-fjord. 



Oasterosteus aculeatus, munida, wga, peeten septem- 

 radiatus, p. similis, p. vitreus, area pectunculoides, port- 

 landia tenuis, philine scahra, cardiun fasciatum. To the 

 rather common ones belonged peeten vitreus and area 

 pectunculoides. 



Dec. 23th, 1897. Herlo-fjord. 



Stichopus tremulus, ophiopholis aculeata, ophiura sarsii, 

 strong, drohachiensis, peeten vitreus. 



Echinodermata and molluscs afford, in our waters as elsewhere, 

 the chief quantity of the food of the haddock, but besides, this 

 fish eats bottom Crustacea (as munida, mga), annelida, and even 

 fishes. The haddock may consequently be characterised as a typical 



benthos-eater. 



At the end of the Lofoten fisheries young green-cods (gadus 

 virens jun.) are often used for bait for the cod. During my stay 

 at Balstad late in April 1896, seines were regularly used to catch 

 young green-cod, which in large shoals swarmed in the harbour. 



The following measures, from the snout to the tail-fin, give a fair 

 idea of the sizes that occurred: Balstad, April 20th, 1896, — 

 24.5 cm., 24.5, 19, 26.8, 25, 13, 13.5, 14, 13 cm. Among the 

 young green-cod occurred a few small cods, one for instance 31 

 cm. long, which however was more like skrei than ordinary fjord- 

 cod. Among the smaller specimens of the young green-cod the 

 majority were bluish-black on the back and bluish on the sides, a 

 few however had a reddish tinge on the sides and fins. On 

 their being opened, the stomach was seen to be much expanded, 

 and in the smallest specimens some peculiar gramdary contents 

 were perceived through tlie expanded skin of the stomach. These 

 contents soon proved to consist chiefly of fish spawn, among which 

 also the spawn of the ocean cod in great numbers. When it is con- 

 sidered that every harbour in Lofoten in the spring swarms with 

 very young green-cod which incessantly snatcli at fish-spawn, one gets 

 an idea of the enormous destruction that the germs of the cod are 

 exposed to from the progeny of its kindred. In the stomachs were 

 found, besides fish-spawn, a great number of cypris and nauplius 

 stages of cirripedia, also microsetella atlantica was observed, as 

 well as another copepod, which professor Sars has defined as 

 thalestris gibba, (Kroyer). 



On April 30th, 1897, I caught, off the quay at Glea (Eost), 

 some young green-cods measuring about 13 cm. Here too fish-spawn 

 was found in the stomachs, though not in such a large number as 

 at Balstad the previous year. At the time there was however, at 

 any rate inside the harbour, not very much spawn. The greater part 

 of the stomach contents consisted of cirriped cypris; further there 

 appeared larvm of euphausida and copepoda, zoea of brachyur 

 decapod, calanus fnmarchicus, pseudocalanus elongatus, harpacticus 

 chelifer, &c. In the harbour of the liamlet there were at this time 

 large masses of young green-cod, a great deal of boats were moored 

 there, and it was interesting to observe how the small fishes with 

 predilection stuck to the shadowy side of the boats. In none of 

 the stomachs of the young green-cods that I examined I found 

 bottom animals. It is likely that green-cod feed almost exclusively 

 on pelagic organisms, tlie younger stages being limited to plancton, 

 and the grown-up ones to the larger plancton forms (boreophausia, 

 nyctiphanes, parathemisto, &c.) as well as necton (cuttle-fish, herrings, 

 sprat, sand eel, capelan, &c.). In Lofoten Mr. G. 0. Sabs has 

 observed that green-cod occur in large numbers in the month of 

 July, chasing the fry of the cod as well as their own. On one 

 occasion the professor even succeeded in making a green-cod 

 disgorge a couple of live young cods. It might appear that the 

 green-cod had several advantages in competing with tlie cod, but 

 nevertheless the two species may keep alongside each other in 

 large masses in the same area. The cod lack the power of the 

 green-cod for cooperation, and the green-cod are likely to make a 

 greater destruction of the eggs and fry of the cod than vice versa, 

 but as the green-cod does not spare their own young, which of 

 course in their turn make no difference between cod-spawn and green- 

 cod spawn, this circumstance is likely to keep up the balance between 

 the two nearly related species. 



On the weight of the ocean cod the supervising chief Mr. Knap 

 has caused a series of observations to be made. Thus the average 

 weight for the whole of Lofoten was found to be as follows: 



