104 
in widely separated localities (the particular stations (248, 183 and 
286) being situated west of Norway, between 67° 56, 5 ’ and 72° 57’N.) 
it is not likely that they have by chance come to these regions, 
but we may perhaps conclude that this species, in likeness with 
several other deep sea forms, passes the first periods of its life 
in the upper water strata”. 1 ) 
That the adult redfish do not exclusively belong to the bot- 
tom fauna was first stated by Fridtjof Nan sen. He found 
almost quite fresh specimens of Sebastes marinus in the stomach 
of hooded seals in the middle of the Arctic Ocean between Jan 
Mayen and Spitzbergen, where the depth is more than 1500 fms., 
and therefore came to the conclusion that the redfish is not, as 
hitherto supposed, exclusively a bottom fish only occurring at the 
coasts. The redfish, caught by the above named seal, must have 
been living far above the bottom, in the upper water strata, and 
so far below the surface as corresponds to the depth in which it 
occurs at the coasts, viz. most probably about 60 fathoms; and 
Nansen declared that 5. marinus “possibly may occur in this way 
all over the Arctic sea”. 2 ) 
That Nansen had drawn the right conclusion of his observation 
was fully confirmed by the fishing experiments of Johan Hjort 
in the year 1900. 3 ) By means of floating lines adult redfish were 
caught in many places far from land, above great depths in the 
Norwegian sea; they mostly occurred 100—200 meters below the 
surface, and sometimes in so great numbers that on a line with 600 
hooks 65 redfish might be caught, even with salted bait. 
That the small young of Sebastes marinus are not limited to the 
sea around the coasts only, but may also be met with in the middle 
of the sea above great depths, Collett, as referred above, was 
the first to mention. Later on J o h s. S c h m i d t has stated that dur¬ 
ing the spawning-season 5. marinus is not limited to the small areas 
9 The Norwegian North-Atlantic Expedition 1876—1878. Zoology: Fishes, by 
R. Collett, 1880, p. 15. 
2 ) F. Nansen: De norske Fiske; Norsk Fiskeritidende, 5. Aarg., 1886, p. 73. 
s ) „Michael Sars“ første Togt i Nordhavet Aar 1900, under Ledelse af J o- 
han Hjort. Aarsberetning vedk. Norges Fiskerier for 1900, 4. Hefte 
(Bergen 1901). — Compare also Murray & Hjort: The depths of the 
Ocean, 1902, pp. 646—48. 
