Xi: The Eggs and Early Life-History of the Herring, Gaspereau, Shad and Other Clupeoids.

Abstract

wrrn rnnno Pr,ArEs.) . rn view of the economic importance of the herring family (the clupeide), of which some species, such as the sea-herring, the sh,ad, sardinq &c., have a high commercial value, it is a matter of surprise that accurate information regarding the habits anil life history of most,clupeoids is not available, or, at any rate, not generally acee$sible. For a long period the most absurd opinions prevailed respecting the migrations and spawning of so familiar a meh.ber of the family olupeidm as the aommon herring of the Atlantic ocean and the North Sea. Pennant's versibn of the theory, universatly accepted a century and a half agq is so often referred to in works on fishing industries, that r quote somewhat fully from his ( British zooTogy,' vol, rlr., Lonilon, 1769. 'The herring,' he says, 'are met with in vast shoalg on the coast of A-erica as low as Carolina, and in Chesapeake bay there is ,an annual inundation of those fish, which cover the shores in such quantities as to become .a nuisance. we find them again in the seas of Karftzchatka, and possibly they reach Japan * for Koempfer mentions, in his account of the fsh of that countrn some that are congenerous. The great winter rendezvous of the herring is within the Arctic circle; ther,e they continue for many months, in order to recruit themselves after the fatigue of spawning, the seas within that spaoe swarming with insect food, in a degree far gneater than in our warmer latitudes. This mighty army puts itself in motion in spring. we distinguish this body by that name, for the word .( herring,t is derived from the German ,1 Heer,r, aD army, to express their numbers. They begin to appear ofi the Shetlancl isles in {pril and May; these are only forerunners of the grand shoal which comes in June, irud their appe@rance is marked by cnertain sig'ns, by the humbers of birds, such as gannets, and others which follow to prey upon them; but when the main body approaches, its breadth and depth are such as to alter the appeamnce of the ocean. ft is divided into two distinct colum'g 5 or 6 miles in length and 3 or 4 in breadth, and they drive Jhe water before them with a kind of rippling, son€times they sink for the space of 10 or 15 minutes, then riee again to the surface, and in bright weather reflect a varietf of splendid colours, like a field of the most precious ge-s.The first eheck this army meets it divides into two parts, one wing takes to the east, the other to the western ,shore€ of Great Britairl and fll every bay ancl creek with their numbers; rthers pass on towards Yarmouth, the great and ancient mart of herrings; they then pass through the British channel, and after that in a manner disappear. Those which take to the west, after ofiering themselves to the llebrides, where the geat stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north of rreland where they meet with a second int€r-I There is an important herring ffshery in Japan to whlch I refer on a subsequent page. 95Contrib. Can. Biol. Fish. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by University...

Effects of Salinity on the Development of the Pacific Herring

“…The literature indicates that previous rearing experiments have met with little success (9). The relative success of three diets used in these experiments is shown in Fig.…”