968 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Length im- 
Length 
Length 
Length 
Length 
mediately 
1 month 
3 months 
6 months 
12 months 
after exclu- 
afterwards, 
afterwards, 
afterwards, 
afterwards, 
si on, mm. 
mm. 
mm. 
mm. 
mm. 
Herring 
5-8 
17—18 
45—50 
75—80 
130—140 
Trout 
15 
20 
30 
64 
125 
When it leaves the egg, the young Trout is thus 
about twice as large as the young Herring; but three 
months afterwards it has been outstripped by the latter. 
The larviB of the Herring are distinguished by an 
elongated (Eel-shaped), somewhat terete, and highly 
transparent body, with the vent situated far back, espe- 
cially during the earlier stages, with the dorsal fin be- 
hind the middle of the body, but with the ventral fins 
set farther forward. The paired fins are lobate (with 
brachiate base), the pectorals appearing before the ven- 
trals. In the Spring Herring of the Baltic the scales 
are developed at a length of only 41 mm. 
When two years old, the Baltic Herring is about 
20 — 21 cm. long; when three years old, 22 — 23 cm.; 
when four years old, 24 — 25 cm. In Norway the Spring 
Herring, it. is assumed, requires 7 or 8 years to reach 
its full size. The males attain maturity at a length of 
16 — 20 cm., the females at a length of about 21 cm. 
After passing through the larval stage, the Herrings 
gather in shoals and commence their rovings along the 
coast, often ascending into a foot of water, and pursued 
by Garpike and other predatory fishes. On the shelv- 
ing beach near Halmstad, though the Herring is else 
a stranger to Laholm Bay, the shoals of young Herrings 
were so dense in my childhood that during summer we 
boys used to catch numbers by wading out and netting 
them in our handkerchiefs. In July, 1834, about five 
miles west of the Skaw, within the innermost sand-bar, 
Krdyer* 2 observed a shoal of Herring-fry that were about 
5 cm. long. The shoal extended for a distance of about 
200 yards and was more than 20 yards broad. It was 
so dense that the water seemed quite black. Herring-fry 
one year old are of rarer occurrence in the open sea 6 ; 
but on the 12th and 13th of August, 1889, Heincke 0 
found several specimens 15 — 20 cm. long among larger 
Herrings in the Skager Rack, on the seaward side of 
the Jutland Bank, where the depth was about 100 m. 
The Herring can thus endure the hardships of a life 
in the troubled ocean, and accompany its elders on 
their wanderings, at an early age. 
The Herrings seem to seek strength, or at least to 
find a sense of security* 2 , in the close companionship of 
numbers, however little this avails. Out at sea they 
probably swim in more open order and mingle indis- 
criminately. The drift-net fishermen of Northern Scot- 
land, who sometimes sail 80 miles from land, take full 
Herrings and shotten Herrings, ripe Herrings and maid- 
■en Herrings (matjes), in the same haul. But the nearer 
the Herring-shoal approaches to the shore, at different 
seasons of the year, the denser and the more exclusive- 
ly do the different sorts congregate, in summer those 
which are most eager in the pursuit of food, in autumn 
those with the ripest organs of reproduction. Large 
shoals of maiden Herrings (fat Herrings) — with a 
thick coat of fat round the intestine, but with small, 
filamentous or ribbon-like organs of generation — re- 
pair in summer to the west coast of Norway north of 
Stavanger, and feast on their favourite food, the so- 
called Aat. The spawning Herrings, on the other hand, 
resort in still greater multitudes during autumn and 
winter, alternately, as it appears, for a series of years 
to the southern part of the west coast of Norway, and 
for another, shorter period to the Skager Rack and the 
Northern Cattegat, as well as to the fjords of Norwegian 
Nordland. In the last-mentioned region the Herring 
sometimes advances within the island-belt before the 
spawning, but goes out again to breed. To the south 
of Norway and off the coast of Bohuslan the greater 
part of the Herring-shoal spawns before its appearance 
within the island-belt, at least in the beginning of the 
said period. In the Baltic the Herring goes out to sea 
after spawning; but on the west coast of Scandinavia it 
makes its way into the island-belt and the fjords, and 
rests there for a while, before withdrawing to the open 
sea. At these times it even enters fresh water. Moreau 
states that it ascends the mouth of the Seine up to 
Quillebeufh After resting it again begins to feed, puts 
on flesh, and becomes what is known in Norway as 
slosill (with thread-like organs of generation). But the 
Herrings of the shoal are not all in the same condition, 
although most of them are ready to spawn. The main 
a Danm. Fiske, vol. Ill, p. 159, note. 
b Boeck, 1. c., p. 18. 
c Mith. Sect. Rust., Hochseef. (Deutsch. Fisch. Ver.) 1890, p. 17. 
d Cf. the above-mentioned observations of the Three-spined Stickleback (p. 657). 
e Cf. also Cuv., Val., 1. c., p. 66. 
