Fishery Board for Scotland. 



xxiii 



samples of the takes, and to collect material to enable the Scientific Scientific 

 Committee to determine, as far as possible, the nature of the food Ipvesti gattons. 

 of the herring during the different months of the year at the 

 various fishing stations. For circulars, see Appendix F, No. VIII. 

 As the result of these instructions, a large collection of herring 

 stomachs has been made, which, when examined, will settle to a 

 great extent the very important food problem. A rough ex- 

 amination of the material collected has been sufficient to show — 



(1) That the food consists chiefly of small Crustacea, a single The food of 

 stomach sometimes containing as many as 50 specimens of mysis, the Herrin &- 

 varying from one inch to one and a quarter inches in length ; 



(2) That, in addition to Crustacea, many other creatures serve as 

 food for the herring, e.g., some of the stomachs preserved contain 

 four or five half-grown sprats, while others are filled with the 

 delicate almost transparent worm-like sagitta; (3) That although Little food 

 the herring feeds as opportunity offers during the spawning period, taken durin g 

 the claims of hunger are a very secondary consideration, only 1 Or period. 



2 per cent, of the mature herring examined having any food in 



their stomachs, while herring taken shortly after spawning have, 



with few exceptions, their -stomachs well filled. During February 



and March, for example, the spawning herring, when taken on the 



Ballantrae Bank, had seldom any food in their stomachs ; while in 



December and January the immature herring, taken in the same 



district, were often in the ' Gutpock ' condition ; and at the present 



time, about two months after spawning, nearly all the herring 



taken have their stomachs distended with Crustacea, — Crustacea 



being sufficiently abundant at present on the Ballantrae bank to 



give the water a distinctly red colour. It is therefore evident that, 



as soon as spawning is over, the herring begin to feed, in order to Herring feed 



make up for the great loss that occurs during the spawning period ; gpalrafog 6 * 



and that having recovered from their shotten condition, they begin 



to store up nourishment, chiefly in the form of fat in the muscles 



and liver, and along the sides of the intestine, by way of preparing 



for the next spawning period. 



An account of the herring food collected during a whole year 

 will be given in the next Eeport. 



By examining and making outlines of the samples of herring Varieties and 

 sent from the various fishing stations, some conclusions have been nSng n ° f 

 arrived at, as to the varieties and the migration of the herring 

 (Appendix F, No. IV.). It has been found impossible, however, to 

 make much progress with this part of the work, the Board being 

 unable to provide any assistance to the Scientific Committee, either 

 byway of helping in the work of organisation, or in carrying on Want of assis- 

 the investigations. tance - 



The inquiry may, when extended, show that there are several 

 local varieties of herring around our coasts, and that there are in 

 addition the deep sea herrings which visit our shores to deposit 

 their spawn, and further that during the spawning period their 

 movements are entirely under the control of what may be called the 

 spawning instinct; while at other times their movements are chiefly influence of 

 regulated by the supply of food. Hence, when a fishing station is ? £ s a t ^ g 

 situated in the vicinity of a spawning bed (e.g., Ballantrae), there is 

 sure to be, once a year, a more or less successful fishing; whereas if 



