658 



The Living Animals of the World 



tide, where it deposits its spawn in the spring months. It is a gratifying tribute to the 

 good work done of late years by the local authorities in purifying the Thames that, after 

 a long absence, this valuable fish has reappeared in that river, which it now ascends in con- 

 siderable numbers as high as Teddington Weir. 



Much discussion has taken place recently with regard to the question whether salmon 



feed while in fresh-water. 



Not long ago it was 



. ■ ' announced that they 



suffered from a diseased 

 condition of the stomach 

 during this period, and 

 were consequently quite 

 unable to feed. Subse- 

 quently it was found 

 that the supposed dis- 

 eased condition of the 

 stomach was due to the 

 fishes not being perfectly 

 fresh when they were examined. It is now known that although salmon do not feed freely 

 in fresh-water, yet they take a certain amount of nutriment, such as an occasional shrimp, fly, 

 or even small fish, while there. 



Photo hi) A. S. RiuUaiid J- Sons. 



SMELT. 



This fish is remarkable for its peculiar smell when freshly caught, which resembles that of the cucumber. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE HERRING AND ITS KINDRED. 



I'.Y F. G. AFL.Vl.O, F.Z.S. 



" 1/ IX Gr HEREIXG," as the trade-paper of the fishing industry rightly calls it, is one of 

 i \ the chief commercial fishes of the British seas, and the enormous North Sea herring 

 fisheries probably support more boats and men from all parts than any other. Europe 

 has no very large herring ; but the Tari'on of the Jlexican coast, as well as another giant which 

 occurs in the northern waters of Australia, grows to an enormous size. All the members of the 

 Herring Family feed and travel near the surface of the sea, and are therefore caught in drift- 

 nets, miles of which are " shot " a few fathoms from the top of the water, catching the 

 shoaling-fish in their meshes. All of them, too, are wanderers, most capricious in their goings 

 and comings. Hence the uncertainty of the fisherman's wage. 



The principal kinsmen of the herring in British seas are the SrRAT and Pilchard, though 

 the two kinds of Shad, which, like the salmon, ascend certain rivers for spawning purposes, 

 also support a number fishermen; and the Anchovy is, authorities have lately suspected, 

 sufficiently numerous on the British coasts to repay a regular fishery, if the men could be 

 induced to try the experiment and use a sufficiently fine-meshed net for this little fish. 



The Heruiku of the more northern waters is larger than that of the English Channel, 

 17 inches being recorded as its maximum size in the former, as against only 12^ inches farther 

 south. In the Baltic, however, the writer found the herrings still smaller than those of the 

 English Channel. The herring lacks the lateral line, already alluded to in other fishes ; its 

 scales are large and thin ; its under-edge is smooth and keeled ; and the male is slightly the 

 larger of the two sexes. The Sprat, on the other hand, is a smaller species. It has no teeth; 

 its belly is saw-edged ; its back-fin starts nearer the tail than that of the herring. The 

 herring, moreover, differs from the sprat, and indeed from all our most important fishes,'' in that 

 Its eggs sink to the bottom. The eggs of almost all other sea-fish float at or near the surface 

 of the sea, so that the herring's spawn alone can be damaged by the operations of the ground- 



