THE SMELTS 229 
usually takes place from March to May, “when the fish crowd together in dense 
array and the eggs are shed.” 
Meek (1916, p. 140) writes that the smelt migrates into estuaries in the early 
winter, the young shoals appearing first. The mature fish ascend the estuaries in 
the spring as far as fresh water to spawn. Meek cites Masterman’s statement that 
the breeding season for the smelt in the Wash district in England is end of February 
to the beginning of April. The spawning time in the River Ouse (in England), 
according to Charles W. Harding (1882, p. 428) in a letter to Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 
extends from April to the beginning of June. 
Smitt (1895, p. 873) says: “It is a migratory fish like the salmons, though not 
in so high a degree, roving at the spawning-season from salt water to fresh, or, in 
the lakes, from deep water to the shallows.” He mentions that in the Norrstrom 
off Stockholm, Sweden, a female 196 millimeters long (7.7 inches) and a male 188 
millimeters long (7.4 inches), both quite ready to spawn, were taken on the 4th of 
November, 1892; but as a rule “ the smelt does not muster in Sweden for its breeding 
expeditions until the end of March or even later.” He says that Ekstrom wrote: 
“In March or April, according to the earlier or later breaking up of the ice, the 
smelt ascends to rivers, straits, or shores where there is some current.” 
Johansen and Lifting (1919, p. 134) say that the smelt spawns in the main 
stream of the lower Gudenaa between Frisenvold and Langaa in March and April, 
and that in these months large shoals of ripe smelts coming from the Randers Fjord 
enter the Gudenaa, and they seem to return shortly after spawning, always choosing 
water of some depth with clear, sandy bottom. It generally rises toward evening and 
continues its journey the whole night, but at daybreak again retires for the most 
part to deep water. A remarkable circumstance is that whereas all other fishes 
prefer to spawn in fine weather the smelt is just the reverse. In squally and snowy 
weather it is most eager in its ascent, the violent gusts of wind and snow that occur 
then being known as nors-il (smelt squalls) . Males and females swim in company 
during the spawning and are so densely massed that they seem merely to rub their 
bodies together in order to rid themselves of the roe, which is deposited on the bot- 
tom beneath. Smitt says that the young start first, but do not ascend so far up the 
rivers as the older fish, and often spawn in the lakes 1 on shallow shores. Ekstrom’s 
account (1895) is the most complete of any knowm to us concerning the spawning 
migrations of the European smelt. 
There is not much more published concerning the breeding habits of the 
American marine smelt. Norris (1868, p. 94), referring to the smelt that he had 
announced as a new species under the name of Osmerus sergeanti and the northern 
smelt, said: 
In observing the habits of both species above referred to I have found them to go to the 
head of tide, but no further, for the purpose of spawning. This occurs as soon as the rivers are 
free from ice in the Spring. 
Goode (1884, p. 543) says: 
The smelt enters our rivers and brackish bays during the winter months for the purpose of 
spawning, and at this period is caught in immense quantities in nets and by hook and line. 
1 Both Smitt and Ekstrom appear not to distiguish between the marine and the fresh-water smelt. 
44699—27 16 
