CAPELIN. 
881 
When the females have left the place, the bottom is 
so entirely covered with their eggs that it gleams with 
a yellow colour; but when the males have shed their 
milt on the ova, the water is milky white, and the 
bottom no longer visible.” Pallas mentions “as a 
curious fact” that several fish, two, three, or even ten, 
cling so fast together with the aid of the villous lateral 
line that, if one of them be taken up, the others fol- 
low with it, as if they were glued to each other. He 
adds, “Even in the sea they are seen swimming together 
in this manner, and this union between the sexes is 
perhaps necessary for the fertilization of the spawn.” 
As we have seen, the males alone are furnished with 
the villous bands; and Pallas’ observation can there- 
fore refer only to the emission of the milt by the 
mutual pressure of the companion fishes, a supposition 
which bears out the statement that the males and fe- 
males swim in separate shoals. Lanman, however, 
gives an account" that points to a different conclusion. 
“The female,” he writes, “on approaching the beach to 
deposit its spawn, is attended by two male fishes, who 
huddle the female between them, until the whole body 
is concealed under the projecting ridges, and her head 
only is visible. In this position all three run together, 
with great swiftness, upon the sands, when the males, 
by some inherent imperceptible power compress the 
body of the female, between their own, so as to expel 
the spawn from the orifice at the tail. Having thus 
accomplished its delivery, the three capelins separate, 
and paddling with their whole force through the shal- 
low water of the beach, generally succeed in regaining 
once more the bosom of the deep; although many fail 
to do so, and are cast upon the shore, especially if the 
surf be at all heavy.” If the observation be correct, 
the spawning may thus be performed in two essentially 
different manners. 
On the coast of Finmark the spawning, says Saks, 
“commonly takes place at a depth of 4 — 20 fathoms, 
though it may possibly be performed on rocky bottoms 
and in deeper water as well, on which head, however, 
we have as yet no trustworthy observations 6 .” “In 
Varanger Fjord,” writes Collett, “there is a good 
and sure spawning-place off the mouth of the Jakob 
Elf. At the flood the Capelins ascend high up the 
river, as far as the water is brackish enough.” After 
the breeding numbers of Capelins, especially old males, 
float in a- dying state at the surface, or are cast ashore 
in great heaps. We have above seen a similar mor- 
tality, though not so great, attend the spawning of 
the Smelt. 
In 1879 Capelin fry were first observed by Sals 
on the 17th of June off Vadso, after a fresh east wind 
with a strong landward current. They were then, he 
says, evidently just hatched, none of the specimens 
collected measuring more than 8 — 10 mm.; but the 
hatching-place certainly lay further east, no Capelin 
roe having been observed during the said year, either 
off Vadso or at the other two places in Varanger Fjord 
examined by Sars. At this stage the fry were trans- 
parent as wafer, with a very thin body, edged with 
a transparent vertical fin, and with a shapeless, broad 
head, furnished with large, silvery eyes. They were 
found in very great numbers, swimming about at the 
surface. They were extremely sensitive, and died very 
soon after leaving the water, however carefully they 
were handled. Afterwards Capelin fry were repeatedly 
observed by Sars, even far up Varanger Fjord; and 
at the beginning of July they proved to compose the 
principal food of the Coalfish. The Cod has also been 
found by Collett to have its stomach full of Capelin 
fry. When one year old, according to Collett, the 
Capelin is about 1 dm. long. 
Capelins large and small have thus to serve as 
food for the fishes which give rise to the greatest 
fisheries of the world, both in Norway and Newfound- 
land. The Capelin allures them in its train to the 
fishing-grounds; but when if has spawned and again 
returns to sea, it entices them away. It is the best 
bait that can be used for Codfish in general. As hu- 
man food it does not find favour with fastidious pa- 
lates, on account of its unpleasant smell; but the Green- 
landers dry it, and in this condition it is one of their 
most important foods. It is taken with hoop-nets and 
seines. In Finmark, according to Juel, the Capelin 
seine has 38 meshes to the aln (2 ft.), i. e. a mesh 
1 6 Va mm. in diameter. 
The food of the Capelin consists mainly of small 
crustaceans. It finds a plentiful diet in the Arctic 
a U. S. Comm. Fish, and Fisheries, Rep. II (1872 and 1873), p. 225. 
b The above-mentioned observations of Pallas, however, point to this conclusion: and in consideration of the great density of the 
Capelin shoals even out at sea, Juel remarks (1. c., p. 4), “The greater number of the Capelins thus spawn probably in deep water.” 
