106 MARINE AND FISHERIES 



6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 



are the normal resorts of the fry of shad and gaspereaux, the transparent young being 

 invisible as they securely lie atoongst the shingle, sheltered from the rushing stream of 

 water overhead. Even the sea-herring, hatched out on spawning beds at some depth, 

 do not mount at once to the surface, but lie at the bottom (this stage is figured on 

 Plate VIII., fig. 1), until they reach a length of 10 mm. (A inch). When slightly larger 

 the yolk is absorbed and larvae 10 to 24 mm. long (xt) to to inch), (Plate VIII., fig. 2), 

 ascend to the midwater level, where they linger until an inch or more in length (24 to 

 28 mm.), when they are found floating in countless myriads in the surface waters. The 

 transparent, worm-liJse, almost colourless clupeoid larva begins to acquire some pig- 

 ment or spots of colour after the small sac of food-yolk, suspended under the body, is 

 absorbed (Plate VIII., fig. 2). Indeed, in the herring the eye is bright and silvery on 

 hatching out, and Mr. Holt states that the mouth is open (Ann. of Nat. Hist., 1889, 

 p. 370), though this does not, from my own study of herring larvae, appear to be always 

 the case. When about 1 inch long the post-larval herring move inshore, lingering near 

 river months until they are 2 inches long (Plate VIII., figs. 3, 4), when they resort to mid- 

 water, and in the autumn following are again found inshore, having attained a length 

 of 80 to 100 mm., i.e., 3 to 4 inches (Plate VIII., fig. 5). I have obtained them in har- 

 bours in August and September congregating with the gaspereaux and shad in large 

 schools. The shad appears to be the most precocious of the clupeoids in its early de- 

 velopment. The yolk is absorbed by the fourth or fifth day after hatching (Plate IX., 

 fig. 18), though a remnant remains, near the liver, until the fifteenth day, but minute 

 conical teeth are developed before the end of the first week of larval life. The young 

 fish develop rapidly, and within three months, though still delicate transparent crea- 

 tures 2 to 2i inches long, they have all the fins well-developed, and the deep form of 

 the adult is being assumed (Plate IX., fig. 20). Norris, in his 'American Fish-Cul- 

 ture,' Philadelphia, 1868, gives a figure of the shad at this stage {see Plate X., fig. 

 36), referring to it as three months old in the text, page 161; but a descriptive note, 

 at the end, states that the fish represented, is two or three weeks old, a patent impossi- 

 bility, and that it is copied from the first report of the Massachusetts Fish Commis- 

 sion. By November the young shad are 4 or 5 inches long and frequent estuaries and 

 harbour mouths.* This stage is represented in Norris' book, figs. 2 and 3, opposite 

 page 141, and as the figures are extremely interesting, I have copied them on my Plate 

 X., figs. 37 and 38. The parent fish, it may be added, descend after spawning and 

 are captured late in July or in August, in poor condition, hardly fit for food. Those 

 that escape the estuary nets resort to sandy flats, to recuperate, which they do 

 rapidly. At the head of the Bay of Fundy are extensive feeding grounds of the shad, 

 where they improve and fatten so rapidly that the 'fall' shad are regarded as the 

 choicest of all inshore fishes for table purposes. 



The gaspereau, like the shad, undergoes rapid growth after hatching out in June, 

 when it is 5 mm., or ^ inch in length, for it trebles its length in about a month. I 



, secured specimens in the Washademoak lake, Kiver St. John, N.B., | inch (15 mm.) 



f^long (Plate VIII., fig.'*©.), which were of extreme interest. As no published account of 

 these larva has been given by me though I described them to Section IV., of the Eoyal 

 Society of Canada, several years ago, I will briefly detail their main features. The 

 extreme posterior position of the anus is marked, the otocysts are unusually large, a 

 feature common in the herring family in the larval stages, the head is depressed and 

 the colour spots are black, excepting a few yellow dots which appear around the pupil 

 of the eye, and aif orange patch occurs in the pronephric region, behind the pectoral 

 fins. The large size of the translucent pre-anal fin is a notable feature. There are 

 three rows of black spots at this stage, viz., a dorsal row from the crown of the head 

 to the upper lobe of the tail, a second chain along the middle lateral line, and a third 

 series along the middle abdominal line. I kept specimens alive and ten days later, when 



* The capture on several occasions of shad 4 inches to 41 inches long in New York harbour 

 indicates a much slower growth than that generally favoured. 



