of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



127 



On the Ballantrae banks the herring undoubtedly feed on their own ova 

 and young, and the same is probably the case in other spawning districts. 



The Sand-eel (Ammodytes). — In certain districts on the East Coast the 

 herring appear occasionally to feed largely on sand-eels. At Macduff in 

 June, four herrings were obtained which contained respectively 16, 29, 32, 

 and 36 sand-eels ; and we have another record from the same district in 

 February. The other localities are as follows : — Burghead in February 

 and March ; Buckie in August ; Wick in January and July ; and Lybster 

 in March. We have no record of the occurrence of sand-eels as food of 

 the West Coast herring ; indeed, the coast generally is too rocky for sand 

 eels to be plentiful, though they occur locally in considerable numbers. 

 The only other kind of fish we have observed were from Wick in February, 

 when two stomachs were found to contain young Gadidce. 



Fish Ova. 



The ova which are found from time to time as herring food, fall natur- 

 ally into two groups, the pelagic and non-pelagic forms. 



The pelagic ova have been obtained chiefly in the spring and summer, 

 and are frequently associated with copepods. They are in all probability 

 the eggs of the Gadidm, Pleuronectidoi, Cottidce^ and similar common 

 fishes. The only non-pelagic ova which we have met with are those of 

 the herring, and have been obtained during the spawning season in 

 various localities. The chief of these, so far as our observations go, are 

 Ballantrae in March and around the Island of May in the spring. 



MOLLUSCA. 



The mollusca apparently do not contribute an important part of the 

 food of the adult herring, though herring embryos, according to Meyer, 

 feed largely on the free swimming stages of mollusca. 



Of nine stomachs sent from Berwick on the 1st July, eight contained 

 univalve embryos, and in six of them the quantity was considerable. A 

 few molluscan embryos were met with in herring caught off Fraserburgh 

 in August, and also off Wick in July. These are the only records of the 

 occurrence of mollusca which have come under our notice, with the 

 exception of a single specimen of a nudibranch, which occurred off^Stone- 

 haven in June. It should, however, be remarked that many molluscan 

 embryos, which occur in great numbers, and might probably form a part of 

 the herrings' food, could scarcely be recognised amongst a quantity of 

 other food when preserved in spirit. 



In conclusion, it may be stated that on the East Coast generally, 

 Hyperia, Schizopods, and in a less degree Sagitta, form the constant and 

 regular food of the herring during the winter and spring. There appear to 

 be two principal exceptions. First, in certain estuaries, during January 

 and February, the food consists almost solely of young sprats, while in other 

 localities, chiefly in the Moray Firth, sand-eels occasionally contribute an 

 important part of the food, both in the spring and summer. Secondly, on 

 such spawning grounds as that around the Island of May in the spring, 

 those herring which take food appear to subsist chiefly on the ova of their 

 own kind. 



During the summer months copepods form the chief food, and are often 

 associated with other pelagic forms, such as the larval stages of decapods 

 and fish ova. The percentage of stomachs containing food is, however, 

 not nearly so great in the summer as in the winter and spring, and the 

 quantity of food in each is, as a rule, comparatively small. 



