162 



ZOOLOGY. 



to the batteries of the eel are supplied by the Tentral 

 branches of about two hundred pairs of spinal nerves. 



Succeeding these fish are the herrings, represented by 

 the common English herring, Cliqiea harengus, which in- 

 habits both sides of the North Atlantic, extending on the 



American side from the polar 

 regions to Cape Cod; the alewife, 

 P omoloh u s pseudoliarengus, 

 which ranges from Newfound- 

 land to Florida; the shad, Alosa 

 sapidissiina, which has the same 

 geographical distribution as the 

 alewife; and the menhaden or 

 pogy, Brevoortia tyrannus, 

 which extends from the coast of 

 Maine to Cape Hatteras. Tliese, 

 with the cod, hake, haddock, 

 salmon, and a few other species, 

 comprise our most valuable ma- 

 rine food-fishes. The fisheries 

 of the United States yield about 

 $44,000,000 annually, whilst 

 those of Great Britain amount in 

 value to about 140,000,000, and 

 those of Norway to about 110,- 

 000,000. 



The herring (Fig. 206) is a 

 deep-water fish which visits the 

 coast in spring in immense 

 in which the females are 

 as numerous as the 

 males, to spawn, selecting sboal water from three to four 

 fatlioms deep in bays, wliere the eggs hatch. At this 

 season, and early in the summer, liundreds of millions are 

 caught, especially on the Canadian, Ncwfonndland, and 

 Labrador coasts. Tlie English wliitcbait is the young of 

 the herring. The herring is caught in deep nets with 



Fig. 205.— -4*j>re(io, a Siluroid flRh, 



with little sacs filled with eggs sr-j-iools 

 attached by slender stalks. 



three times 



