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CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(IMonographs) 


ICIMH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographies) 


Canadian  Instituta  for  Historical  IMicroraproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  hiatoriquas 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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may  be  bibllographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any  of 
the  images  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checKed  below. 


Ej 
D 

D 


D 
D 
□ 
D 
D 


D 


D 


Coloured  covers  / 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged  / 
Couverture  endommag^e 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pellicul^e 

Cover  title  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  nnanque 

Coloured  maps  /  Cartes  g^ographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  blacl<)  / 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material  / 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 

Only  edition  available  / 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
interior  margin  /  La  reliure  serr6e  peut  causer  de 
I'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
int^rieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  Use  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajout^es  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  6\6  film^es. 

Additional  comments  / 
Commentaires  suppl^mentaires: 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checlted  below  / 

Ce  documertt  est  fiimi  au  taux  de  reduction  Indiqui  ci-dettous. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  mellleur  exemplaire  qu'il  lul  a 
6\6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  ddtaiis  de  cet  exem> 
plaire  qui  sont  peut-6tre  unk^ues  du  point  de  vue  blbtl- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modificatton  dans  la  m^tho- 
de  normale  de  filmage  sont  Indk^u^s  ci-dessous. 

I     I  Cotoured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I     I  Pages  damaged  /  Pages  endommag^es 


D 


Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaurtes  et/ou  peliteuides 


r~y  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 


D 
D 
D 


D 


Pages  66co\OT6es,  tachet^es  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached  /  Pages  d^tach^es 

Showthrough  /  Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies  / 
Quality  in^gaie  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata  slips, 
tissues,  etc..  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totalement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une 
pelure,  etc.,  ont  6X6  filmdes  k  nouveau  de  fa9on  h 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
film^es  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image, 
possible. 


lOx 

14x 

18x 

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si 

12x 

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20x 

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28x 

32x 

Th«  copy  «ltn«d  h«r«  h««  bMft  rsprotf ucad  th«»lw 
to  th«  g«n«rMitv  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'oMomplairo  film*  fut  roproduit  grieo  i  la 
fl4fl4ro«it«  do: 

Bibllothiquo  natlonalo  du  Canada 


Tho  imago*  appoaring  horo  aro  tho  boat  qualltv 
poaaiblo  eonaidoring  tho  condition  and  togibiilty 
of  tho  original  copy  and  in  hooping  with  tho 
filming  contract  apocif icotiona. 

Original  eopioa  in  printod  popor  covora  aro  fllmod 
beginning  \with  tho  front  covor  and  onding  on 
tho  loot  pogo  vwith  a  printod  or  illustrotod  improo- 
•ion.  or  tho  bock  covor  whon  approprioto.  All 
othor  original  eopio*  aro  filmed  boginning  on  tho 
first  pogo  with  a  printod  or  •""«'«r*J"''|?** 
sion.  and  onding  on  tho  laat  pago  wdth  a  printod 
or  illuotrotod  improsaion. 


Tho  loot  recorded  framo  on  ooch  •"ie'0««»;«  ^ 
shall  contain  tho  symbol  -^ •'"••'""« ,52. i' 
TINUEO").  or  tho  symbol  V  Imoonmg    ewo  i. 
whichovor  appliaa. 

Maps,  platas.  charts,  ate.  may  ba  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  bo 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  In  the  upper  left  hond  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Los  images  suivanta*  ont  «t*  reproduitos  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin.  eompto  tenu  do  la  condition  at 
da  la  nonet*  do  roaomploiro  film*,  et  en 
eonf  ormit*  ovoc  loa  eonditiona  du  contrat  da 
fUmaga. 

Lee  oiomploiroo  originoux  dont  lo  couvorture  en 
popier  eet  imprimOo  sent  filmAs  en  commandant 
par  lo  premier  plot  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dorniaro  pogo  qui  comporto  une  empreinte 
d'impro»sion  ou  d'llluatration,  soit  par  lo  second 
plot,  solon  lo  COS.  Toua  las  autres  exemplaires 
originoux  sont  fllmte  en  common^ont  por  lo 
premiOra  pogo  qui  comporto  une  empreinte 
d'improsaion  ou  d'iHuatration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derni*ro  pogo  qui  comporto  uno  telle 
omprointo. 

Un  doe  aymboloa  suivanta  apparottra  sur  la 
darniaro  image  do  cheque  microfiche,  solon  lo 
cos:  lo  symbolo  -♦  signifie  "A  SUIVRE".  lo 
symbolo  ▼  signifie  "PIN". 

Los  cartaa.  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  pouvont  etre 
filmto  A  dos  taux  da  reduction  diffarents. 
Lorsquo  lo  document  est  trop  grand  pour  itre 
roproduit  en  un  soul  clich*.  il  est  film*  A  partir 
da  I'angle  supdriour  gauche,  do  gauche  a  droit*. 
et  do  haut  en  bos.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imegoa  nOcaaaairo.  Lee  diagramme*  sutvants 
illustrent  lo  mOthodo. 


6 


MKMCOrr   MMIUTION  TBT  CHMTT 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHAUT  No.  2) 


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1^ 

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4.0 

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■  1.8 

1.6 


/APPLIED  IIVMGE    Inc 

^^         1653   East   Moin   Strvct 

Rb        RochMt»r.  N««  York        14609       USA 

(716)  *a2  -  0300  -  Phon« 

(716)  28a-  5989  -  Fo« 


SPECIAL 


APPENDED  REPORTS 


BY 


PROFESSOR  E.  E.  PRINCE 

Dominion   Comnilnnimn'r  nf  Fisherif.s,  Oltnirn. 


1.  EGGS  AND  EARLY  LUE  HISTORT  OF  THE  COD.  HADDOCK  AND  MACKEREL. 
8.  MIGRATIONS  OF  SEA  FISH. 


1907-8 


OTTAWA 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTINU    BUREAU 

1909 


"^*^^^^^^^^'^P^^^*jf^'"  ■ 


fk    -     .>;'■ 


i»»i.  •■>^7^ 


SPECIAL 


APPENDED  REPOKTS 


PROFESSOR  E.  E.  PRINCE 

Dominion  Commissioner  of  Fisheries,  Ottawa. 


X..PTT  OFE  HISTORY  OF  THE  COD.  HADDOCK  AND  MACKBBEL- 
1.  BOOS  AND  EABLT  LIFE  HlSluni  v^r 

,    MIGRATIONS  OF  SEA  FISH. 


1907-8 


OTTAWA 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    BUREAU 

1909 


CONTENTS. 

I.— Tub  Eoob  and  Lire  Hmtoit  or  thi  Cod,  IIaddock  and  Mackiieu 

Prevtiling  ignorance  respecting  the  life  hittory  of  important  commercial  fiihea — Digest 
of  reaearchet  by  Prof.  Mcintosh  and  Dr.  Maaterman— Prof.  O.  O.  Saru'  rcaearchea 
— The  fisbea  named  produce  amall  floating  eggr,  minute  young,  which  come  inihore 
—Later  atages  prefer  diverse  habitats— Six  stages  in  each  specie*— Cods'  eggs 
described— Number  of  egga  produced— Spawning  areas— Warmer  waters  preferred 
— Embryonic  development — Larval  and  post-larval  feature* — 40-day  cod  inshore — 
Small  cod  2-6  inches  long  on  rocky  shores— Mature  in  third  year— Haddock 
resembles  cod  in  development— How  they  differ— Haddock  1-3  inches  long  in 
mid-water — Later  reroaii  in  open  sea — 'Mark'  on  shoulders  at  IJ-inch  stagr— 
Near  the  bottom  at  4  inches — Later  habits  of  haddock— Mackerel  produces  floating 
eggs  containing  an  oil-globule — Quantity  of  eggs  smaller  than  in  cod  and  haddock 
— Size  reached  by  mackerel — Spawning  in  May  and  June — Sch<H}lp  decimated  by 
purse-seines — Later  the  spent  fish  recover  and  are  fnt  in  the  fall — Si«e  ol  the  egg 
— Appearance  of  fr, -First  drawing  made  in  Ireland — Mr.  Holt's  detailed 
descriptians — Larval  and  post-larval  stages — Schools  inshore — Abundance  of 
'  tinkers '  in  bays — Adult  stages. 

n.— The  MraRATiONS  or  Sea  Fish. 

Practical  importance  of  fish  migrations  in  the  sea — Experiments  planned  at  Marine 
Biological  Station,  St.  Andrews— Bird  migrations  are  analogous— Different  type* 
of  migration — Transportation  of  floating  eggs  and  fry  in  the  sea— Later  move- 
ments of  young  fish — Curious  anomalies  in  marked  fish — Individual  wanderers — 
Johnstone's  and  Schmidt's  experiments  with  plaice  in  Irish  Sea  and  Iceland — 
Long  distances  exceptionally  traversed — Inshore  and  off-shore  migrations — Views 
of  Professor  Mcintosh— Young  cod  larv»  carried  to  colder  areas  and  remain  there 
— Cod  of  li  inches  descend  to  bottom — Cod  under  2  feet  wander  little — Mature 
cod  really  local  in  habitat — Spencer  Baird's  and  Nielsen's  views — Mackerel  form 
local  varieties — Natural  restoration  after  depletion  i*  not  rapid- Food  attracts  fish 
to  localities — Physical  conditions  are  influantial — The  Gurnard  (Trigla)  an  excep- 
tion— Anadromous  fishes  wander  little  from  their  rivers,  shad,  salmon — Migration 
of  birds  and  fishes  compared — Fishes  influenced  by  currents — Dr.  Bell  Dawson  on 
compensating  circulation  in  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence — Seines  take  fish  which  refuse 
bait — Main  fishery  for  cod,  mackerel,  &c.,  should  be  after  spawning,  when  the  fish 
have  recovered — Fish  hatcheries  of  small  avail  for  sea  fishes  generally. 


10364-1 


I.— THE  EOOS  AND  LIFE  HISTORY  OF  THE  COD,  HADDOCK  AND 

MACKEREL. 


BY  raoriUOB  BOWABO  B.  PBIMOB.  OOMMUaiOXBa  or  rnilBBlBa,  OTTAWA. 

Complaint  hat  been  made  that  publtthed  inveatigationa  on  fiah  Ufa  and  fith  habitt, 
for  popular  information  have  been  too  exclusively  devotnl  to  frpch  water  fish  and  to 
ansdromous  ipeciea.  The  salmon,  trout,  whitefiah,  black  bass  and  pike-perch  or  doi* 
have  been  fully  treated  in  reports  and  papers  for  general  readers.  The  cod,  haddock 
and  mackerel  are  three  examplea  of  fishes  that  are  of  the  highest  commeroial  import- 
anne  and  about  them  rea<lily  acceasible  publications  are  wanting.  It  mnst  also  b* 
added  that  scientific  and  technical  knowledge  concerning  the  life  history  of  fishes 
inhabiting  the  deep  sea  is  leaa  full  and  complete  than  ia  the  case  with  river  and  lake 
fiahes  and  species  like  the  salmon  that  spend  only  a  portion  of  their  time  in  freah 
water.  A  considerable  mass  of  information  exists  respecting  the  cod,  mackerel  and 
haddock,  but  to  lea-n  about  the  spawning  peculiarities,  habits  of  th(>  young,  rate  of 
growth,  food  at  different  stages  and  migrations,  it  is  necessary  to  conault  difllcult 
technical  treatises  and  to  read  scientific  jrurnals  which  arc  not  readily  acceasible.  Ona 
of  the  very  few  books  for  general  readers  published  in  London  in  1807  is  the  beautifully 
illuatrated  work  on  Britiah  Marine  Food-Fishes,  by  ProfeMor  W.  C.  Mcintosh  and 
Dr.  A.  T.  Maaterman. 

Little  waa  generally  known  about  'he  eggs  and  life  history,  the  growth  and  migra- 
tiona  of  sea  fishes  used  for  food  when  I  began  their  special  study  in  1885  at  St 
Andrews,  Scotland,  under  the  gruidance  of  Professor  Mcintosh,  though  it  was  already 
known,  and  bad  been  known  to  specialists  for  nearly  twenty  years  that  cod,  haddock 
and  mackerel  were  wholly  unlike  the  sea  herring,  and  fresh  water  fishes,  both  in  regard 
to  the  nature  of  their  spawn,  the  features  of  their  breeding,  growth  and  early  migra- 
tiona. 

Profeaaor  O.  O.  Sa'-a  had  begun  investigations  in  the  course  of  which  be  secured 
■mall  floating  eggs,  like  minute  pellets  of  glaas,  but  so  light  and  buoyant  'Hat  they 
floated  near  the  surface  of  the  sea.  The  waters  surrounding  the  Lofoten  Islands,  the 
famous  fishing  grounds  of  the  Norwegian  cod-fishermen,  were  filled  with  these  small, 
almost  invisible,  floating  eggs.  Later  Dr.  Sars  discovered  other  egg*  much  resembling 
cod's  eggs,  which  proved  to  be  the  very  similar  eggs  of  the  haddi'>ck,  and  loter  he  obtained 
the  eggs  of  the  mackerel,  also  floating,  rather  larger  than  cods'  eggs,  and  exhibiting  a 
new  feature,  viz.:  a  glistening  oil-globule.  Dr.  A.  W.  Malm,  of  Goteburg,  likewise 
found  the  oggs  of  the  haddock  and  mackerel  and  described  them,  while  Alexander 
Agassiz,  and  the  early  scientific  staff  of  the  TTnited  States'  Fish  Commission  'Dr. 
J.  A.  Ryder,  Dr.  R.  E.  Earll  aud  other:'*)  confirmed  previous  discoveries  and  extended 
them  very  considerably.  So  inadequately  was  the  importance  of  Sars'  amazing  dis- 
coveries realized  by  biologists  and  by  the  general  public  that  at  the  Great  International 
Fisheries  Exhibition  in  London,  in  18S3,  his  drawings  and  descriptions  of  these  floating 
fcoa-fish  eggs  ottracteo  little  attention  on  the  whole.  On  my  many  visits  to  that  famoua 
and  in  some  respects  unsurpassed  flsheries  exhibition,  I  never  failed  to  re-examine 
Dr.  Sara'  drawings  with  the  accompanying  detailed  descriptions  placed  alongside, 
and  on  no  occasion  did  I  observe  brother  scientists  or  interested  spectators  paying 
much  attention  to  that  unique  exhibit.  The  specimens  and  drawings  were  not  only 
unique,  they  were,  from  a  fisheries  point  of  view,  epoch-making.  In  the  official 
catalogue  of  the  exhibition  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  they  were  carefully  described. 

& 

10364— li 


Owing  to  this  epecial  interest  I  quote  from  the  catalogue  the  following  notice:  Pro- 
fewor  O.  O.  Sars,  development  of  cod  {Oadua  morrhua)  eriilained  by  n  aenea  of  fif^- 
aiz  coloured  drawings  on  seven  plates,  made  by  the  exhibitor  during  his  visits  to  the 
Lofoten  Islands  in  the  years  1866-69.'  There  were  shown  66  accurately  drawn  figures, 
Nos.  1-24  showing  the  ovary,  early  ovum  and  first  segmentation  stages;  Nos.  26-36, 
the  formation  of  the  young  fish  in  the  egg,  and  the  features  of  the  hatched  larva  and 
young  cod  up  to  one  inch  in  length;  Nos.  37-6!?,  later  stages  of  young  post-larval  cod, 
and  Nos.  53  to  66,  later  codling  up  to  adult  cod,  20  and  33  inches  in  length. 

The  collection  was  not  an  imposing  display  and  was  overshadowed  by  the  larger 
and  more  striking  objecU  displayed  in  the  various  sections  and  galleries,  and  sent 
from  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  At  the  conferences,  which  were  held  frequently  during 
the  eight  or  nine  months  of  the  exhibition's  existence,  and  which  I  attended  diligently, 
in  order  to  listen  to  the  great  masters  in  the  science  of  fish  and  fisheries,  very  scant 
reference  was  made,  so  far  as  I  can  recall,  to  the  astonishing  and  revolutionizing 
character  of  Dr.  Sars'  specimens,  and  their  importance  as  practically  bearing  upon 
the  preservation  and  welfare  of  the  fishing  industries  in  the  sea. 

At  the  commencement  of  my  researches  I  found  that  the  field  was  regarded  as 
virgin  and  practically  untouched,  so  little  was  generally  known  about  the  eggs  and  the 
broeding  peculiarities  of  the  marine  food  fishes,  which  form  the  staple  commodities 
in  the  great  fish  markets  of  the  world.  When  Professor  Mcintosh  and  myself  read 
at  the  British  Association  and  at  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  the  results  of  our 
investigations,  they  were  regarded  by  the  biologists  as  very  novel  and  of  altogether 
peculiar  interest  and  importance.  Full  and  adequate  studies,  in  continuation  of  the 
pioneer  work  of  Dr.  G.  O.  Sars  and  Dr.  A.  W.  Malm,  had  not  been  made  of  the  lilfe 
histories  of  the  marketable  food  fishes  in  the  sea.  Indeed,  until  I  studied  mackerel 
eggs  in  the  spring  of  1893  on  the  s.s.  Fingal,  and  made  drawings  of  the  young  fry 
immediately  after  hatching,  no  one  had  seen  or  sketched  the  mackerel  in  its  first 
stages,  and  those  published  subsequently  by  a  very  able  English  authority  showed 
colouration  and  other  features  not  observed  by  me  in  the  Irish  mackerel  eggs  obtained 
during  the  oflBcial  fishery  cruise  under  H.  M.  Inspector  W.  Spotswood  Green,  in  the 
year  named. 

The  researches  above  referred  to,  with  later  investigations  by  other  workers  have 
shown  that: 

(1)  Cod,  haddock  and  mackerel  produce  spherical  eggs  which  are  typically  pelagic, 
i.e.,  small  in  size,  extremely  delicate  in  structure  and  appearance,  of  glassy  transparency 
and  so  buoyant  as  to  float  freely  near  the  „urface  of  the  sea. 

(2)  The  young  larvaj  emerging  from  these  eggs  are  as  minute  as  mosquitos  or 
midges,  very  buoyant  and  transparent,  frequenting  the  superficial  strnta  of  the  open 
sea,  and  carried  helplessly  about  by  the  tides  and  currents,  during  the  earliest  part 
of  their  life. 

(3)  The  young  fishes,  as  soon  as  thoy  cease  to  feed  on  their  stock  of  food  yolk,  and 
actively  capture  food,  migrate  in  schools  incalculably  vast,  from  the  open  waters,  where 
they  are  first  congregated  and  find  safer  areas  inshore,  often  quite  close  to  the  shallow 
beach  or  the  tidal  rock-pools. 

(4)  The  later  post-larval  and  adolescent  stages  are  marked  in  each  species  by 
features  in  their  migrations  and  habits  which  are  not  uniform  but  diverse,  and 
distinctive  of  the  several  species. 

In  the  following  summarized  account  I  shall  describe  in  each  of  the  four  named 
species : 

(1)  The  mature  ovum  and  its  deposition. 

(2)  The  hatching  of  the  ovum  and  larval  migrations. 

(3)  The  features  characteristic  of  the  early  larval  stages. 

(4)  The  post-larval  or  pre-adolescent  stages,  often  embracing  curious  develop- 
mental transformations. 

(5)  The  maturer  stages,  not  yet  adult,  and  migrations. 
(8)  The  adult  condition  and  habitat?  in  the  sea. 


The  egg  of  the  cod  is  a  spherical  buoyant  pellet  1-38  to  1-39  mm.,  or  a  little  a  /er 
three-fifths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  nnd  of  such  colourless  transparency  as  to  be 
practically  invisible  in  the  water.  On  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  and  off  the  Can- 
adian Labrador,  as  also  off  the  Lofoten  Islands  and  the  southwest  shores  of  Iceland, 
these  doatinfr  eggs  may  occur  in  quantities  beyond  the  grasp  of  the  human  mind. 
Their  incalculably  vast  myriads  dancing  like  microscopic  soap-bubbles  in  the  sen  may 
indeed  impart  a  dull  milky  aspect  to  the  surface  waters  as  though  a  filmy  stratum  of 
mucilage  floated  along  the  surface  of  the  sea,  as  described  by  Norwegian  fishermen 
over  forty  years  ago. 

Each  female  cod  produces  an  enormous  number  of  eggs.  Indeed,  M.  Petit  weighed 
the  ovary  of  a  specimen  and  calculated  that  at  least  nine  millions  of  eggs  wore  con- 
tained in  a  single  large  fish.  The  female  cod  is,  contrary  to  the  rule  in  most  fishns, 
smaller  than  the  male  when  full  grown.  The  fish  congregate  near  the  surface  of  the 
sea  at  the  spawning  time,  which  is  during  the  months  of  midwinter.  October  to 
December,  or  even  so  late  as  February  and  May.  Off  the  coast  of  Labrador  nnd  around 
the  Magdalen  Islands  the  spawning  schools  crowd  so  .'■  ickly  that  a  vessel  mny  be 
impeded  in  her  progress,  striving  to  pass  through  them.  No  well  defined  areas  in  the 
sea  can  be  distinguished  as  cod  spawning  groimds;  but  the  regions  in  Canada  and 
Northern  Europe  vary  from  two  to  two  hundred  milrs  frnm  the  shore.  Much  df^pends 
on  the  nature  of  the  coast  and  the  character  of  the  currents  and  tides ;  but  it  has  bren 
determined  that  the  parent  cod  have  a  preference  for  wnrmer  rather  than  colder  areas, 
though  the  young  fry  are  found  to  flourish,  some  months  after  hatching,  in  water  of 
extreme  frigidity  as  off  the  north  coast  of  Iceland.  The  eggs  scatter  widely  and  in 
areas  of  low  specific  gravity  they  may  descend  to  a  depth  of  many  fathoms,  though 
the  roost  favourable  areas  are  those  in  which  they  float  within  one  or  two  fathoms  of 
the  surface,  and  in  extreme  calms  may  form  a  smooth  film  quite  at  the  surface.  All 
the  eggs  are  not  deposited  at  once,  but  those  which  lose  the  creamy  white  opacity  of  the 
maturing  ef^s  and  acquire  a  clear  glassy  transparency  like  translucent  gum,  glide  to 
the  posterior  end  of  the  ovary  and  are  shed.  While  the  ripe  female  cod  scatter  their 
eggs  near  the  surface,  the  male  fish  congregate  below,  and  the  streams  of  minute 
sperms  which  they  eject  like  jets  of  creom.  ascend  and  fertilize  the  eggs.  Few  eggs 
probably  escape  fertilization,  as  the  tests  in  the  Jfarine  Laboratory,  now  the  Oatty 
Marine  Station,  at  St.  Andrews,  Scotland,  proved.  Dr.  Schmidt,  in  a  recent  report  m 
the  cod  in  Iceland  states  that  '  when  maturity  approaches,  and  the  fish  is  preparing  for 
reproduction,  it  becomes  much  more  sensitive  to  external  conditions.  This  results  in 
the  undertaking  of  the  second  great  migration  of  its  life,  which  having  regard  to  the 
object  may  be  called  the  spawning  migration,  and  which  ends  in  the  warm  water  on 
the  south  and  west  coasts.  The  proportion  of  the  sexes  on  the  spawning  grounds  has 
not  been  determined,  as  has  been  done  in  the  case  of  the  salmon  and  certain  other 
fishes;  but  Sars  noticed  in  Norwegian  waters  more  female  fish  near  the  surface  than 
male  fish. 

The  eggs  are  helplessly  wafted  about  in  the  water,  and  in  a  period  varying  from 
one  week  to  four  weeks,  according  to  the  temperature,  the  young  fish,  less  than  one- 
sixth  of  an  inch  long  (4  mm.  or  -lO  in.)  emerge  into  the  open  sea,  floating  back  down- 
wards and  exhibiting  four  black  transverse  bands  along  the  slender  worm-like  body. 
Within  two  or  three  days  the  young  fish  have  vigour  enough  to  swim  in  the  right 
position,  progressing  by  sharp  wriggling  motions.  A  swollen  ball  of  yolk  protrudes 
from  the  under  side  and  upon  that  fluid  yolk  the  fry  feeds.  By  the  end  of  the  first 
week  the  yolk-sac  has  nearly  disappeared  and  the  fish  is  slightly  longer  and  appears 
deeper  in  the  body  owing  to  a  long  fin  along  the  back  having  grown  in  height.  About 
this  time  (being  now  over  5  mm.  in  length,  or  '195  in.)  the  eyes  appear  bright  and 
silvery,  a  black  patch  appears  at  each  side  of  the  body  and  the  two  first  cross  bands 
of  dark  colour  break  up,  but  the  second  and  third  bands  still  remain,  and  the  little 
fish  descends  to  some  depth  to  what  is  known  as  the  mid-water  habitat.  Minute  crab- 
life  copepods  now  form  the  main  food  of  the  larval  cod  and  these,  when  undergoing 


digestion,  turn  pinkish  or  red.  Hence  this  red  food  visihle  through  the  transparent 
walls  of  the  young  fish  impart  to  it  a  reddish  hue.  Later,  when  6-6  nun.  long 
(•226  in.)  the  last  two  bars  have  disintegrated,  black  spote  appear  on  the  head  and 
along  the  middle  of  the  under  surface,  while  a  greenish  yellow  tint  faintly  appean 
oyer  the  little  fish.  All  this  time  the  breast  fins  have  been  actively  used  like  delicate 
fans,  but  the  second  pair  or  ventral  fins  now  bud  out,  yellowish  tints  appear,  and  a 
length  of  -332  in.  or  8-26  mm.  is  attained  at  this  time,  viz.,  the  third  week.  A  little 
later,  when  the  cod  is  -375  in.  or  9-42  mm.,  hard  rays  appear  and  strengthen  the  back 
fin,  the  anal  fin  and  the  tail  fin,  and  the  shape  of  the  head  is  no  longer  blunt  and 
rounded,  but  more  pointed  and  cod-like.  The  mouth  opens  to  the  front  instead  of 
upwards,  as  in  the  earlier  stages,  and  a  little  barbule  or  feeler  appears  at  the  tip  of 
the  chin.  Myriads  of  these  baby  cod  now  move  shorewards,  and  a  month  or  five  weeks 
later,  in  May,  June  and  July,  when  the  fish  are  over  40  days  old  (-586  in.  or  14-8  mm. 
long)  they  crowd  the  inshore  waters.  They  rapidly  reach  a  length  of  an  inch,  and  in 
company  with  green  cod,  pollock,  &c.,  form  schools  in  the  rock  pools  and  in  shallow 
inlets.  The  cod  is  distinguishable  by  the  more  marked  reddish  hue  of  the  top  of  the 
head,  by  the  pearly  lustre  of  the  sides  variegated  with  eight  or  nine  irregular  dark 
blotches  along  the  sides  and  back,  while  the  belly  is  silvery.  Black  spots  appear  on  the 
two  back  fins  and  on  the  first  anal  fin  below,  but  none  on  the  tail  fin,  though  a  U-shaped 
band  occurs  marking  the  root  of  the  tail. 

Dr.  Schmidt  found  that  small  cod  in  the  North  Sea,  off  the  Scottish  coast,  were 
much  paler  in  colour  than  the  larval  cod  of  more  northern  waters.  Sars  was  the  first 
to  describe  the  cod  at  2  inches  (50-8  mm.)  in  early  August  amongst  alpe  along  rocky 
shores,  and  states  that  by  October  they  are  4  or  5  in.  long,  and  a  month  later  as  much 
as  6  to  10  inches  long.  Their  colour  varied,  being  reddish  yellow  on  rocky  shores  and 
greener  or  grey  on  sandy  spots.  When  a  year  old,  say  in  February  or  March,  the  young 
codling  may  be  a  foot  in  length  (304  8  mm.)  and  in  the  coiirse  of  the  season  they 
forsake  the  shore  and  migrate  seaward.  In  their  third  or  fourth  year  the  cod  is  mature 
and  they  are  then  two  feet  or  more  in  length  and  develop  spawn. 

HADDOCK. 

In  many  respects  the  haddock  resembles  its  congener  the  cod,  yet,  a  careful  study 
of  their  eggs,  life  history,  habits  and  external  features  shows  innumerable  differences 
and  even  contrasts.  Their  localities  for  spawning  are  much  the  same  as  those  of  the 
cod,  being  out  in  the  open  sea  from  five  tc  twenty,  or  even  sixty,  miles  from  land.  The 
female  haddock  is  universally  smaller  than  the  male,  and  the  size  of  the  egg  is  really 
the  largest  of  the  early  pelagic  or  floating  eggs.  It  is  not  readily  distinguished  from  the 
spherical,  transparent,  buoyant  eggs  of  the  cod,  biit  is  larger,  viz.,  058  in.  in  diameter, 
or  1  -458  mm.,  and  the  number  produced  is  far  less  than  in  the  case  of  the  cod  viz :  a 
quarter  of  a  million  to  two  million  eggs.  Haddock  scatter  their  ova  in  the  sea  from 
January  to  the  end  of  May,  and  the  time  of  hatching  varies  from  one  to  three  weeks. 
The  newly  hatched  fry  are  smaller  than  Ihosc  of  the  cod,  viz.,  14  in.,  or  3-5  to  4  mm., 
and  they  swim  helplessly,  ventral  side  upwards,  being  incommoded  by  the  yolk  sac  or 
ball  of  fluid  food  which  nourishes  them  for  several  days.  There  is  no  trace  of  the 
cross-bars  so  prominent  in  the  cod,  but  irregular  black  spots  occur  about  the  shoulder, 
and  a  row  on  each  side  from  the  abdominal  area  to  the  tail  and  along  the  ventral  line 
of  the  muscular  body.  After  floating  about  for  a  week  near  the  surface  of  the  sea 
they  appear  to  make  for  deeper  water  near  the  bottom  and  red-blood  has  been  observed 
at  that  age.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  these  minute  floating  larval  fish  there  is 
no  red  blood  for  some  time,  a  delicate  colourless  fluid  being  driven  by  the  heart  over 
the  transparent  body.  The  jaw  is  turned  sharply  upward  until  the  eleventh  or  twelfth 
day,  when  the  movable  lower  jaw  opens  direct  to  the  front.  The  lateral  abdominal 
patch  of  colour  is  even  more  marked  and  dense  and  along  the  lower  border  of  the  fleshy 
tail  a  TOW  of  black  stars  is  a  marked  feature.    In  May  the  young  haddock  from  1  inch 


•9^2172? 


to  8  inches  in  length  abound  in  mid-water,  neither  at  the  bottcmi  nor  near  the  eurfaoe 
of  the  Bea.  They  remain  20  to  40  milsa  out  at  sea,  and  do  not  migrate  close  inshore 
like  the  cod  and  the  pollock  and  green  cod.  Sara  described  the  haddock  as  stouter  and 
more  compact  in  form  than  the  cod  of  the  same  age.  The  ventral  pair  of  fins  are  first 
noticed  in  the  fish  at  an  inch  in  length,  when  the  sides  of  the  body  are  sparsely  spotted 
with  black  dots,  the  head  and  shoulders  included,  and  the  specks  of  black  colour  extend 
over  the  fins;  but  the  under  surface  of  the  fish  is  pale  and  silvery.  When  about  one- 
fifth  longer,  i.e.,  m  inch  long  (20  mm.)  the  larval  haddock  still  keeps  to  deep  water, 
and  the  two  ventral  fins  appear  exceptionally  long,  while  the  unpaired  dorsal  and  anal 
fins  are  largely  developed,  but  there  is  still  no  regular  cross-bar  or  checker  pattern 
similar  to  that  of  the  cod.  On  reaching  a  length  of  H  inches  (39  mm.)  minute  scales 
appear,  and  the  characteristic  '  thumb '  mark  or  black  patch  behind  the  shoulder  is 
quite  distinctly  visible.  The  barbule  on  the  tip  of  the  chin  appears,  but  is  shorter 
than  in  the  case  of  the  cod,  and  the  mouth  is  smaller  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the 
fish.  There  is  no  dappled  appearance  ns  in  the  cod,  and  no  duaky  or  speckled  colora- 
tion as  in  the  green  cod  or  pollock.  When  an  inch  longer  (2|  inch,  i.e.,  60-46  mm.) 
the  haddock  '  mark '  is  darker  and  more  definite,  the  pectoral  fins  are  yellowish  brown 
and  speckled,  uniform  specks  of  black  extend  all  over  the  head  and  body,  the  eyes 
are  of  a  metallic  silvery  colour  and  tho  lower  jaw  and  the  mental  barbel  are  smaller 
than  in  the  cod.  In  contrast  to  the  cod,  no  haddock  appear  to  frequent  the  shore  up 
to  this  age.  Specimens  80  mm.,  i.e..  3i  inches  long,  exhibit  a  warm  copi>ery  sheen 
such  as  is  so  frequently  observed  in  the  large  full  grown  haddocK.  Professor  Mcintosh 
in  his  account  of  the  haddock,  states  that  the  bottom  trawl  at  the  end  of  July  has 
secured  haddock  of  4  inches  (101-1  mm.),  and  they  are  taken  also  on  baited  hooks,  but 
before  that  stage  none  have  been  secured  otherwise  than  in  the  mid-water  net  or  in 
the  stomachs  of  predaceous  fishes.  At  that  size  they  are  no  doubt  about  five  months 
old.  Later  specimens  six  or  seven  months  old,  6  inches  long,  have  been  secured,  and 
in  November  and  December  they  measure  over  7  inches  in  length,  while  the  following 
May  and  June  they  reach  a  length  of  at  least  nine  inches  and  cannot  be  less  than 
thirteen  to  nineteen  months  old.  Thus  the  haddock  shows  rapid  growth  during  its 
first  summer,  no  less  than  an  inch  per  month ;  but  in  winter  its  growth  is  slower.  In 
the  third  year  the  haddock  reaches  the  mature  stage  and  is  developing  spawn.  After 
spawning  they  are  often  found  inshore  feeding  voraciously  on  eggs  of  other  fishes 
attached  to  rocks,  &c.,  and  they  are  much  more  gregarious  in  their  habits  than  cod, 
but  are  not  abundant  so  far  north  as  the  related  species  named. 

MACKKBEL. 


Widely  differing  from  the  cod  and  haddock  in  all  the  features  which  are  regarded 
as  important  in  the  eyes  of  the  naturalist,  the  mackerel  ranks  with  the  two  valuable 
food-fish  named  on  accoimt  of  its  importance  economically,  and  on  account  of  its  pro- 
duction of  minute  delicate  floating  eggs.  The  salmons'  eggs  arc  large  and  heavy,  and 
the  eggs  of  the  herring  are  dense  and  cling  together  like  hard  glassy  i>ellets;  but 
the  eggs  of  the  mackerel  are  extremely  transparent  and  delicate  and  float  buoyantly 
near  the  sea's  surface.  Professor  G.  O.  Sars  and  Dr.  A.  W.  Malm  first  described  the 
egg,  and  it  was  my  good  fortune,  as  already  stated,  to  be  the  first  naturalist  to  hntch 
out  and  make  scientific  drawings  of  the  young  larval  mackerel,  when  with  Mr.  Spots- 
wood  Green,  investigating  the  west  Irish  fishing  grounds  on  the  ss.  Fingal.  The 
female  mackerel  produces  on  an  average  probably  a  quarter  of  a  million  eggs.  As 
Drs.  Jordan  and  Evermann  say :  '  The  mackerel  egg  is  exceedingly  small,  it  being 
only  Vu  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  eggs  average  about  40,000  to  the  fish,  but  200,000 
have  been  taken  from  one  fish.  The  largest  mackerel  would  doubtless  produce  1,000,000 
eggs  each.'  Yarrel  regards  fish  14  to  16  inches  long  as  large  average  specimens,  such 
weighing  about  2  pounds;  but  he  states  that  in  1849  a  specimen  18  inches  long  and 
weighing  2}  pounds  was  caught  on  the  English  coast,  and  in  November,  1866,  one  was 


10 


■old  in  London  weighing  2  pounds  10  ounces;  but  in  Canadian  water*  much  larger 
mackerel  are  frequent,  and  I  myaelf  aaw  a  Nova  Scotia  mackerel  taken  in  May,  1898, 
which  was  22)  inches  long  and  weighed  no  lesa  than  4i  pounds.  In  May  and  June 
the  spawning  schools  move  landward  to  spawn.  They  approach  the  Nova  Sootian 
coast  and  move  into  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence  from  a  southeasterly  direction.  Up  to 
the  middle  of  July  they  will  not,  as  a  rule  take  bait,  and  as  Professor  Hind  pointed 
out  they  lose  all  desire  for  bait  when  engaged  in  spawning.  The  deadly  purse-seine 
introduced  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  by  the  American  schooners  captures  these 
spawning  schools  in  immense  quantities.  Almost  without  exception  these  fish  coming 
into  Pleasant  Bay  early  in  July  and  going  up  the  north  shore  (Quebec)  as  far  as 
Pointe  do  Monti!  about  the  end  of  July,  are  spawning  or  partly  spawned.  June  and 
July  cover  the  period,  though  mackerel  remain  and  feed  in  the  Gulf  and  along  the 
Canadian  shores  until  the  end  of  October.  The  spawning  and  spawned  fish  are  very 
inferior,  but  the  fall  mackerel,  having  recovered  and  fed  up,  are  firm  and  fat  and 
incomparably  superior  in  every  respect. 

The  eggs  produced  by  the  mackerel  are  small  translucent  spheres  over  %Bth  of  an 
inch  in  diameter  (-038  in.  or  1-22  mm.),  and  exhibit  in  the  midst  of  the  clear  contents 
a  cloudy,  almost  colourless  globule  ^oth  of  an  inch  in  diameter  (-32  or  -33  mm.).  No 
globule  appears  in  the  eggs  of  the  cod  or  haddock,  bat  the  ling,  the  gurnard  and  other 
fishes  exhibit  in  the  egg  a  so-called  oil  globule.  In  about  six  days  the  young  fish 
hatches  out  and  at  first,  a  few  sparse  specks  of  yellowish  colour  are  seen  near  the  eyes. 
The  yellow  specks  later  appear  mingled  with  black  dots  on  the  globule  and  over  the 
head  and  body,  and  form  an  irregular  lino  along  the  back.  These  spot?,  says  the  well 
known  Irish  fif  hery  authority,  Mr.  E.  W.  L.  Holt,  are  blue  black,  not  dead  black.  The 
younir  mackerel  which  I  had  under  observation  for  over  a  week  until  accidentally 
killc'  Sy  a  cloud  of  hot  soot  showered  upon  them  from  the  smoke  stack  of  the  steamer, 
sho  .<  •)  }  other  colours  excepting  yellow  and  black,  but  it  has  been  stated  that  bright 
grecii  •  ...inent  occurs  on  the  fifth  day  on  the  tail,  and  behind  the  eyes  and  on  the 
globule.  On  the  ninth  day  after  hatching  a  length  of  -19  in.  or  4-88  mm.  is  reached 
and  the  ball  of  food  yolk  is  used  up.  The  eyes  have  a  bright  blue  metallic  appearance, 
and  on  the  sides,  the  upper  abdominal  pigment  is  very  marked,  but  there  are  few  spots 
on  other  parts,  and  no  cross  bands  or  serial  patches.  By  the  tenth  or  eleventh  day  the 
larval  appearance  is  gone  and  the  post-larval  stage  is  fully  attained.  Mr.  Holt  com- 
pares the  mackerel  larva  at  this  stage  to  the  grotesque  post-larval  Cottus  or  sea- 
skulpin.  At  this  time  the  schools  of  young  come  inshore  and  vast  numbers  may  be 
seen  in  Northumberland  Straits,  off  Prince  Edward  Island,  and  in  the  Bay  of  Chaleur 
off  the  Bonaventure  coast  in  August  and  September.  Dunn,  the  well  known  English 
observer,  speaks  of  young  mackerel  3  inches  long  in  bays  and  shallow  inlets.  In 
November,  when  6  or  7  inches  long,  they  move  into  deeper  water,  and  are  not  observed 
until  they  reappear  as  '  tinker '  mackerel,  8  or  9  inches  long,  abounding  in  harbours 
and  bays.  Sars  held  the  opinion  that  a  one-year  old  mackerel  was  as  long  as  the  finger, 
that  at  the  end  of  the  second  year  it  wis  the  size  of  a  herring,  and  that  in  the  third 
jear  it  is  full  grown,  though  mai  authorities  give  the  mackerel  another  year  and 
declare  a  mature  spawning  mac!  be  in  its  fourth  year.    For  the  first  two  years 

the  young  mackerel  frequent  opei.  -ter  near  shore,  and  as  Proffssor  Mcintosh,  of 
St.  Andrews,  Scotland,  says,  the  lengths  4  inches,  8  inches  and  11  inches  probably 
correspond  with  successive  years  in  the  life  of  the  mackerel. 

While  the  mackerel  schools  along  the  various  portions  of  the  lengthy  Atlantic 
coast  of  Canada  have  not  been  separated  into  local  races  or  such  differences  noted  as 
in  European  seas,  yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  each  area  on  the  coast  has  its  own  stock 
and  that  the  mackerel  does  not  migrate  over  long  distances,  but  largely  confines  its 
movements  to  coming  into  shallow  waters  from  deeper  water  and  vice  vena. 


n 


n.— THE  MIGRATIONS  OF  SEA  FISH.  WITH  SOME  RESULTS  OF  MARK- 
ING FISH. 

BY  PBOFESSOB  EDWARD  E.  PRINCE,  DOMINION  COMMISSIONER  OF  FlSIIEttlES,  OTTAWA. 

The  migrations  of  sea  fish'  are  of  importance  in  connection  with  the  commercial 
utilization  of  marine  fishery  resources.  Their  determination  is  beset  by  peculiar 
difiiculties,  and  the  systematic  marking  of  considerablo  numbe.-s  of  the  most  valued 
food  fishes  on  the  plan  adopted  by  the  Marine  Biological  Board  of  Canada,  to  be  carried 
out  in  successive  seasons  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  Dominion  with  the  Marine 
Laboratory  at  St.  Andrews,  N.B.,  as  the  principal  station,  is  the  first  step  towards 
deciding  the  seasonal  movements  of  the  schools  of  fish  upon  which  Canadian  fishermen 
depend  for  their  catches.  Just  as  the  study  of  bird  migrations  occupied  ornithologists 
for  over  a  hundred  years,  and  the  accumulation  of  observations  and  the  tabulation  of 
ascertained  facts  has  resulted  in  some  approach  to  a  satisfactory  understanding  of  the 
remarkable  movements  of  the  feathered  tribes  over  the  surface  of  the  earth,  though 
much  remains  still  to  be  discovered,  so  the  thorough  understanding  of  the  wander- 
ings of  the  finny  tribes  taking  place  in  an  element  which  hides  them  more  securely 
from  continuous  observation  than  the  heights  of  the  atmosphere  hide  the  feathered 
tribes,  is  a  subject  that  only  the  patient  collection  of  facta,  and  their  ascertainment 
both  by  ordinary  practical  as  well  as  by  scientific  experimental  methods  can  enable 
us  to  arrive  at  complete  and  adequate  results.  The  movements  of  fishes  in  the  sea 
vary  according  to  the  period  of  life  of  each  species.  Nay,  even  the  epps,  before  giving 
birth  to  the  young  fish,  are  the  subject  of  migratory  movements  and  add  to  the  com- 
plexity of  the  subject  in  many  species.  Shore  fish,  which  produce  floating  eggs,  like 
the  cod,  haddock,  mackerel  and  many  flat  fishes,  are  distributed  over  wide  areas  before 
they  hatch  out.  The  young  fish,  after  hatching,  are  under  the  influence  of  tides  and 
currents  which  effect  migratory  movements  and  transport  thorn  over  great  extents  of 
sea.  Later,  the  effects  of  temperature,  salinity,  movements  of  the  air  (winds)  and  of 
the  water,  are  felt  by  the  schools  of  small  post-larval  fishes,  and  later  still  the  occurrence 
of  food  is  a  most  potent  factor  in  leading  fish  to  take  long  journeys,  while  at  maturity, 
besides  the  quest  for  food,  the  spawning  instinct  is  powerful  in  causing  them  to  move 
from  one  area  to  another. 

The  methods  of  marking  fish  are  important,  but  owing  to  the  variety  of  devices 
adopted  by  different  observers  in  Europe  and  on  this  continent  I  shall  deal  with  the 
subject  of  modes  of  marking  fish  in  a  special  paper  in  the  journal  of  the  Biological 
Stations  of  Canada,  Part  III.  of  which  appears  at  an  early  date.    The  mode  of  marking 
is  one  of  more  serious  moment  in  the  work  of  deciding  the  migrations  of  fishes  than 
may,  at  first  sight,  appear.    Observers  have  found,  for  example,  that  while  a  large 
number  of  fish  have  been  found  to  move  over  a  limited  area  in  some  definite  directior 
single  individuals  or  three  or  four  individuals  have  taken  to  roaming,  and  in  a  sho' 
time  have  migrated  to  very  long  distances  in  the  most  diverses  directions.*  Thus  in  Mi 
James  Johnstone's  experiments  in  the  Irish  sea,  with  the  valuable  flat  fish  the  plaice 
(,Plalessa),  out  of  35  fishes  marked  and  liberated  on  the  Lancashire  coast,  about  40 
miles  northwest  of  Liverpool,  one  wandered  past  the  Isle  of  Man  round  the  Mull  of 
Galloway  to  Corsewall  Point,  near  the  southwest  comer  of  Ayrshire,  a  distance  of  110 
miles,  while  another  was  recaptured  near  Dundalk,  in  Ireland,  having  traversed  a 


•The  irritation  caused  by  the  tag  may  in  some  cases  keep  the  fish  continually  on  the 
move,  just  89  the  minrabing  herds  of  Barren  Ground  caribou,  annoyed  by  the  constant  at- 
taciw  of  large  deer    flies  in   suuiiiier,    never    c^ase  tu  move  uuward  over   long   Jistaucar. 


distance  of  more  than  120  miles,  the  former  occupying  over  14  months  in  the  journey, 
while  the  latter  took  between  nine  and  ten  months  to  cross  the  Irish  sea,  whereas  most 
of  tliem  were  recaptured  within  a  few  months  at  distances  of  eight  to  twenty  or  thirty 
miles  from  the  spot  where  they  were  marked  and  placed  in  the  sea.  Similar  peculiar 
wanderings  have  been  noticed  in  the  United  States'  experiments  with  lobsters,  rare 
examples  wandering  upwards  of  a  hunudred  miles  from  thee  locality  of  liberation.f  Dr. 
Johs.  Schmidt,  in  his  experiments  with  Icelandic  plaice,  foimd  that  moet  of  them  in 
10  or  11  months  (July,  1905,  to  May  and  June,  1906),  moved  200  miles;  one  plaice 
reached  a  point  about  280  miles,  one  about  250  miles  and  two  about  220  miles  from 
Vopnafjordhr,  where  they  had  been  placed  in  the  water,  the  one  travelling  the  longest 
distance  (from  July  to  January  following)  in  six  months  time.  There  is,  however,  an 
inshore  and  offshore  movement,  apart  from  definite  lengthy  linear  migrations,  mainly 
connected  with  spawning.  Thus  small  flat  fishes  which  very  early  in  the  yeav  frequent 
the  shallow  inshore  grounds  move  with  the  approach  of  summer  and,  as  they  grow 
larger,  move  into  deeper  water.  Most  fish  in  their  early  life  after  their  larval  life  is 
over  ii»id  they  have  assumed  the  form  of  the  adult,  though  their  dimensions  are  small, 
exhibit  this  habit  of  leaving  the  shallows.  This  movement  is  no  doubt  connected  with 
a  change  in  feeding  habits  as  well  as  with  a  view  to  greater  security  and  protection 
from  enemies.  In  all  experiments  with  marked  fish  there  is  a  preponderance  observed 
in  the  fish  taking  some  definite  direction.  Johnstone's  experiments  showed,  in  the 
North  Woles  plaice,  a  movement  westward  along  the  northeast  shore  of  Anglesey,  a 
migration  similar  to  that  observed  at  two  stations  further  north,  viz. :  off  the  Kibble 
Estuary  and  off  Lancaster  Bay,  where  the  migration  west  and  southwest  was  marked. 
Professor  Mcintosh  was  the  first  observer  to  indicate  the  main  facts,  viz. :  the  migration 
of  the  floating  eggs  innards,  the  hatching  of  the  young  and  their  distribution  over  the 
inshore  shallows,  after  drifting  it  may  be  for  over  a  month  in  the  same  direction  as 
the  eggs,  and  then  after  reaching  maturity,  moving  into  deeper  water.  In  the  deeper 
waters  the  plaice  move  as  in  the  Irish  sea,  or  off  the  Scottish  shores,  westerly;  but 
must,  of  course,  vory  on  other  shores  with  the  geographical  contour  of  the  different 
localities.  Indeed,  as  Schmidt  shows,  adult  plaice  liberated  on  the  north  coast  of 
Iceland  moved  westward  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  while  other  batches  of  adult 
plaice,  deposited  on  the  east  coast  of  Iceland,  all  migrated  southwards.  Tho  authority 
named  decided  that  the  reason  of  this  definite  migration  was  to  reach  areas  of  warmer 
water  '  with  the  exception  of  the  few  retaken  close  to  where  they  were  liberated,  none 
of  the  plaice  were  retaken  on  the  east  coast.  It  is  only  right  down  in  the  south  .... 
that  the  most  were  retaken.'  Moreover  the  plaice  from  the  north  moved  much  slower 
than  those  from  the  eastern  station,  due,  it  may  be,  to  the  rougher  and  more  irregular 
nature  of  the  shore  and  the  bottom.  A  similar  west  and  south  movement  of  the  cod 
was  also  observed  by  the  Danish  authority  referred  to.  By  this  movement  of  the  adult 
cod  warmer  areas  are  reached  suitable  for  the  hatching  of  the  floating  eggs.  But  after 
hatching  the  small  cod,  not  more  than  Wh  or  %th  of  an  inch  in  length,  are  borne  by 
currents  north  and  east  so  that  these  cold  northern  areas  are  crowded  with  cod  fry 
and  pass  their  first  winter  in  those  trigid  surroundings.  Schmidt  found  as  early  as 
April  (in  1904)  vast  swarms  of  young  cod  '  whilst  the  south  and  southwest  coasts  of 
Iceland  are  washed  throughout  the  whole  year  by  warm  Atlantic  water,  this  is  not  the 
case  on  the  caai;  and  north  coasts,  where  the  influence  of  the  polar  water  is  felt.'  Few 
cod  fry  are  found  in  the  warmer  south  and  southwest  waters  where  the  spawning 
takes  place,  but  they  abound  in  the  cold  northern  areas  where  the  temperature  rarely 
rises  for  most  of  the  year  above  freezing  point  There  they  remain  until  a  year  old  or 
even  two  years  old.  Young  cod  when  1}  or  li  inches  long  are  no  longer  found 
swinmiing  at  the  surface,  but  seek  the  bottom,  and  when  from  IJ  inches  to  2  inches 
in  length  crowd  inshore  and  abound  in  rock  pools,  and  when  8  or  9  months  old  (6  to  10 
inches  lonp  move  out  agoin  to  greater  depths.-  When  about  a  year  old  they  are  a  foot 
long,  and  di  not  migrate  until  they  are  mature  and  ready  to  breed,  usually  when  nearly 

tSee  my  spnoinl  B»pcrt,  1967,  p.  Izi. 


tt 


2  feet  in  length.    Up  to  that  time  they  are  stationary  and  only  migrata  to  warmer  areai 
in  the  early  part  of  the  year,  January  to  April,  for  spawning  purposes. 

The  recent  experiments  of  the  Marine  Biological  Association,  England,  shows  that 
in  the  cod  marked  on  the  steamer  Huxley  most  of  them  appeared  not  to  have  wandered 
far,  these  being  below  2  feet  in  length.  As  the  brief  note  in  the  recent  journal  of  the 
association  states : — 

'  The  report  is  based  on  tlio  252  cod  marked  on  the  Iluxley  and  the  42  recaptures 
recorded  up  to  the  date  of  writing.  Mfjst  of  the  recaptures,  constituting  13  per  cent 
of  the  healthy  fish  liberated,  took  place  within  six  months  of  liberation. 

'The  fish  below  60  om.  (24  in.)  in  length  remained  in  water  of  depth  similar  to 
that  in  which  they  were  first  caught,  and  had  not  travelled  far.  Most  of  those  which 
Lad  moved  some  distance  from  the  liberation  point  were  recaptured  south  or  west  of  it.' 

Now  in  the  Atlantic  waters  of  Canada  the  cod  taken  in  June  and  July  and  on  to 
September  or  later  are  the  cod  which  have  spawned  in  deep  water  and  resort  to 
shallow  inshore  waters  for  food  or  find  it  on  the  rough  and  rich  ground  known  as  the 
banks.  The  fishermen  speak  of  the  cotl  moving  north  after  the  capelin  and  the 
swarming  of  immense  schools  of  large  cod  on  the  Labrador  shores  is  due  to  the  presence 
of  the  smelt-like  capelin  upon  which  they  feed  and  grow  fat.  These  coast  migrations 
during  the  summer  months  are  limited  and,  we  may  almost  say,  with  the  late  Professor 
Hind,  that  the  'schools  of  cod  frequenting  a  particular  coast  may  be  said  to  be 
indigenous  to  it.'  The  late  Professor  Spencer  Baird  came  to  the  same  conclusion: 
'  The  cod '  he  says  (U.  S.  Comm.  Rep.,  1889)  '  is  a  local  fish,  nnd  the  different  schools 
have  their  different  habitats.'  Nielsen,  in  his  report  (Rep.  Newfoundland  Fish  Comm., 
1889),  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  cod  is  a  local  fish  as  well  as  the  salmon,  and 
indicates  with  some  detail  that  each  group  has  its  local  resort  and  the  local  varieties  can 
be  readily  distinguished,  a  George's  Bank  fish  being  known  from  any  other  kind  of  cod 
on  the  other  '  banks.'  So  can  a  Cape  St.  Mary's  fish  be  distinguished  from  any  other 
kind  of  cod  in  Newfoundland,  and  a  Trinity  Bay  fish  from  a  Placentia  fish.'  The  ^iew 
has  even  been  expressed  that  in  the  sea,  as  in  salmon  and  shad  rivers,  each  area  or 
locality  has  its  own  local  variety  of  the  same  ppecies,  and  Professor  Baird  went  so  far 
as  to  assert  that  deep  sea  fisheries  depleted  in  any  particular  locality  will  rot  be 
restored.  '  No  fish '  he  ventured  to  declare  '  will  come  from  surrounding  localities  to 
take  the  vacant  place.  Fish  bear  a  particular  relation  to  particular  spots  and  fishing 
out  one  locality  is  thus  like  emptying  a  keg  of  lard,  the  space  left  does  not  become 
again  occupied.'  Valid  objection  may  be  justifiably  raised  to  a  view  so  extreme  as 
that,  but  it  is  nevertheless  tnie  that  in  different  localities  the  same  species  of  fish  may 
exhibit  distinctive  features,  and  demonstrate  the  existence  of  local  races.  Even  so 
migratory  a  fish  as  the  mackerel,  if  we  accept  Professor  Garstang's  views,  shows  marked 
local  variations,  so  that  different  areas  may  be  said  to  be  peopled  by  different  local 
races. 

The  floating  eggs  of  most  sea  fishes  of  value  for  food  purposes  may  be  earned  over 
great  distances  as  already  pointed  out,  end  the  young  larval  and  post-larval  stages 
are  similarly  transported  from  one  area  to  another  so  that  local  varieties  must  cross 
each  others'  borndaries  and  interdignte  or  intermingle,  nevertheless  the  fact  is  that  in 
some  localities  valuable  fish  have  been  so  persistently  destroyed  that  their  almost  total 
depletion  has  been  accomplished  and  their  former  abundance,  even  after  many  years, 
has  never  been  restored.  The  cod  fisheries  on  many  parts  of  the  Atlantic  coast  of 
Canada  have  been  destroyed,  an<?  the  mackerel,  once  abounding  all  along  the  eastern 
shores  of  the  Dominion,  have  become  largely  a  thing  of  the  past,  while  the  once 
maivellous  shad  fisheries  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  are  not  one-thousandth  the  value  and 
extent  they  were  30  or  40  years  ago.  The  disappearance  of  fish  may  be  the  result  of 
many  and  various  causes,  but  the  restoration  by  incoming  schools  from  other  non- 
depleted  areas  is  either  very  slow,  or  does  not  take  pl-ce  to  any  appreciable  degree. 
Fish  may  migrate  from  an  accustomed  locality  to  another  new  locality,  attracted  there 
by  more  abundant  food,  and  the  disappearance  of  fish  and  decay  of  important  fisheries 


may  often  be  traced  to  that  caiwe.    It  has  even  been  claimed  that  the  decline  18  or  20 
year*  ago  of  the  Gulf  of  St  Lrwrence  mackerel  fisheriea  ia  due  not  merely  to  the  whole- 
sale destruction  of  the  schools  of  fish  just  before  spawning,  but  to  the  increasing 
scarcity  of  the  food  which  brought  them  into  the  inshore  waters.    Lobsters  were  form- 
erly incredibly  abundant  and  each  summer  the  inshore  waters  were  alive  with  incredibly 
vast  numbers  of  the  surface  swimming  fry  of  the  valuable  crustacean.    Those  crowded 
young  lobster  fry  were  the  chief  food  of  Ihe  mackerel,  and  with  the  destruction  of  the 
lobsters  and  consequent  scarcity  of  the  free  swimming  young,  the  mackerel  found  their 
food  gone  and  they  sought  food  elsewhere.    This  may  be  true  in  a  certain  degree,  and 
the  svdden  and  unexpected  appearance  of  large  schools  of  mackerel  last  season  supports 
it.    The  balance  of  nature  once  seriously  disturbed  has  wide  and  lasting  effects.    But 
the  physical  conditions  in  the  sea  may  change,  currents  and  particular  peasonal  streams 
may  so  vary  as  to  affect  the  salinity  and  temperature  of  the  water.    Tcmpcrnture  is  a 
potent  factor  in  determining  the  movements  of  fish.*  Thus,  as  Dr.  Wemvss  Fulton,  ten 
or  eleven  years  ago  announced,  the  gurnanl  (Trigia),  an  esteemed  food  fish  in  Britain, 
moves  inshore  from  deeper  water  about  the  end  of  March  and  in  April  and  especially 
in.  Jfay.     Most  of  them  are  breeding  fi-oh  and  they  spawn  from  April  until  July  or 
August,  thus  seeking  the  warmer  inshore  waters  at  the  spawning  time.    Temperature 
brings  in  these  adult  fish,  but  large  numbers  of  small  immature  gurnards  also  move 
inshore  from  May  onwards.    With  them  it  cannot  bo  the  spawning  instinct,  but  must 
be  due  to  the  increasing  temperature  and  possibly  also  to  a  greater  nlenitudo  of  food. 
The  gurnard  thus  presents  a  feature  quite  the  reverse  of  that  of  the  cod.  in  the  young 
stage!",  for  the  small  gurnards  appear  to  be  moat  sensitive  to  a  higher  temperature  and 
forsnke  the  deeper,  colder  water;  whereas  the  cod,  in  its  young  stages,  spends  its  first 
year  at  least  in  the  most  frigid  surroundings  in  the  waters  of  northern  Iceland.    While 
cod,  linddoek,  plaice,  Ac,  seek  the  deeper  waters  and  spawn  offshore,  the  gurnard  moves 
closer  into  shiillower  water  to  commence  spawning  in  April  and  Mav.    But  nnndromous 
fishes,  winch  annually  ascend  rivers,  like  the  smelt,  stri|)ed  bass,  shnd.  alewife  or 
gnpperemi  mid  snlmnn.  nro  not  content  to  move  into  shallow  inshore  areas  of  the  sea 
they  pass  up  into  the  brackish  waters  of  rivers,  like  the  smelt,  or  useend.  like  the 
striped  l).ias,  (o  tidal  limits,  or  move  further  up  entirely  above  the  influence  of  the 
tide,  like  the  shnd  and  gaspereau,  or  like  the  salmon  migrate  hundreds  or  even  thousands 
of  miles  to  the  head-waters  of  the  noblest  and  longest  continental  rivers.     '  L.-nving 
their  home  m  the  far  deep,  the  shad,  in  beginning  their  annual  piljrrimape.'  savs  a 
popular  writer  on  the  migration  of  the  shad,  '  rise  to  the  surface,  and  then  direct  their 
course  landward,  the  earliest  emigrants  l)eing  those  in  which  the  propagntive  function 
19  n-ost  advanced.     Pursuing  their  way  over  the  comparative  shallowa  tlmt  widely 
fringe  our  continent,  and  joined  by  oth^r  communities  bent  upon  the  same  devoted 
errand,  they  giither  in  our  estuaries  and  cbout  the  mouths  of  our  rivers,  and  there  they 
linger  until  the  effluent  waters  are  warmer  than  those  of  the  sea.'    The  opinion  prevails 
that  the  schools  of  shad  resorting  to  a  certain  river  are  the  fish  originallv  hatche<l  in 
that  river,  and  attracted  by  some  peculiarity  in  the  water  flowing  out  of  the  mouth  of 
their  native  slrenm,  and  influenced  by  the  degree  of  temperature  favourable  for  their 
entrance  into  fresh  water,  return  once  more  to  the  upper  waters.    Thus  in  the  Bay  of 
Fundy  the  spawning  fish  in  the  St.  John  river  are  not  the  schools  native  to  the 
Annapolis  or  the  Avon  of  Minas  Basin,  nor  are  any  of  these  fish  which  were  hatched 
from  eggs  deposited  by  parent  fish  in  the  Stewiacke,  Shubenacadie  or  the  Petitcodiac 
nvers.    WTien  shad  were  taken  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  bv  the  United  States 
Fisheries  Bureau,  certainty  was  felt  that  the  shad  planted  in  the  Sacramento  would 
return  to  that  river  only.    As  the  writer  already  quoted  says:— 


were 
«>mp 
sever 

a  failure. 


u 


'  Until  the  Pacific  coast  plantings  it  was  assumed  that  the  shad  inrnriably  returned 
to  the  stream  that  gave  them  birth,  and  this,  as  a  rule,  is  perhaps  correct.  The  con- 
diti.ms  of  the  California  coast  evidently  operate,  however,  to  the  diffusion  of  the  fish, 
they  having  in  many  instances  established  themselves  in  rivers  far  from  the  Sacra- 
mento. This  movement  may  be  due  to  the  balmy  Japanese  current,  the  Gulf  Stream 
of  the  Pacific,  which  laves  its  northeastern  shore  and  agreeably  tempers  its  climate. 
Influenced  by  its  genial  flow  and  pursuing  its  track,  the  shad  have  wandered  northward. 
and,  if  they  maintain  their  advance,  as  they  probably  will,  their  ultimate  establishment 
in  the  river  system  of  Asia  may  be  regarded  as  assured.  Owing  to  various  favourable 
conditions,  the  shad  not  only  multiplies  rapidly  in  its  new  abode,  but  in  some  localities 
has  modified  its  habits,  being  found  in  varying  abundance  throughout  the  year.  More- 
over, it  attains  an  exceptional  size;  seven  and  eight  pound  fish  are  common  in  Cali- 
fornia, but  are  almost  unknown  with  us,  and  there  have  been  exposed  for  sale  in  the 
Ban  Francisco  market  shad  of  a  weight  as  high  as  twelve  and  thirteen  pounds.  This 
superiority  in  size  is  not  unlikely  due  mainly  to  a  less  actively  prosecuted  fishery,  for 
shad  of  equal  weight  were  known  to  our  fathers.  The  heaviest  fish  are  probably  the 
growth  of  a  number  of  years,  and  an  exhaustive  fishery  that  each  season  leaves  but  few 
survivors  necessarily  tends  to  eliminate  the  larger  individuals.' 

It  is  reported  that  some  of  the  shad  resulting  from  the  stock  originally  p'.aced  in 
the  Sacramento  have  been  captured  in  Alaska,  and  certainly  in  the  Frawr  river.  Rivers 
inlet  and  even  the  Skeena  river,  in  British  Columbia  quite  a  number  of  shad  have 
been  taken  by  the  salmon  fishermen,  several  hundreds  in  all.  How  does  this  affect 
the  prevalent  theory  that  such  fish  are  true  to  their  own  native  river?  There  is 
abundant  evidence  that  salmon  return  to  their  own  rivers.  This  is  seen  in  the 
differences  almost  sufficient  to  justify  the  establishment  of  sub-species,  difference  not 
only  of  external  form,  and  of  internal  characteristics  of  the  flesh  (texture,  colour.  &c.), 
but  of  anatomical  and  skeletal  features.  A  Godbout  salmon  of  the  north  shore  ia 
distinguishable  at  once  from  the  typical  Restigouche  salmon,  while  neither  resemble 
in  size  and  conformation  the  salmon  of  the  Miramichi.  The  Peticocliac  salmon  are 
different  from  the  St.  John  River  fish,  so  that  one  may  say  of  the  Canadian  salmon 
rivers  of  the  Atlantic  shore  that  a  different  variety  of  Salmo  solar  is  characteristic  of 
each  of  these  rivers.  Certainly,  as  Professor  Starr  Jordan  has  said,  nearly  all  salmon 
return,  as  a  general  proposition  to  the  region  in  which  they  were  spawned,  but  that 
famous  authority  qualifies  the  opinion  by  indicating  that  the  schools  may  also  resort  to 
other  rivers  to  which  they  were  not  native,  and  adheres  to  his  original  view  expressed 
in  1880.  He  says:  '  It  is  the  prevailing  impression  that  the  salmon  have  some  special 
instinct  which  leads  them  to  return  to  spawn  in  the  same  spawning  grounds  where 
they  were  originally  hatched.  We  fail  to  find  any  evidence  of  this  in  the  case  of  the 
Pacific  coast  salmon,  and  we  do  not  believe  it  to  be  true.  It  seems  more  probable  that 
the  yonng  salmon  hatched  in  any  river  mostly  remain  in  the  ocean  within  a  radius 
of  twenty,  thirty  or  forty  miles  of  its  mouth.  These,  in  their  movement  about  in  the 
ocean  may  come  into  contact  with  the  cold  waters  of  their  parent  rivers,  or  perhaps 
of  any  other  river,  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  shore.  In  the  case  of  the 
quinnat  and  the  blueback,  their  'instinct'  seems  to  lead  them  to  ascend  these  fresh 
waters,  and  in  a  majority  of  cases  these  waters  will  be  those  in  which  the  fishes  in 
question  were  originally  spawned.  Later  in  the  season  the  growth  of  the  reproductive 
organs  leads  them  to  approach  the  shore  and  search  for  fresh  waters,  and  still  the 
chances  are  that  they  may  find  the  original  stream.  But  undoubtedly  many  fall  salmon 
ascend,  or  try  to  ascend,  streams  in  which  no  salmon  was  ever  hatched.  In  little  brooks 
about  Puget  Sound,  where  the  water  is  not  three  inches  deep,  are  often  found  dead  or 
dying  salmon,  which  have  entered  them  for  the  purpose  of  spawning.  It  is  said  of  the 
Russian  river  and  other  California  rivers,  that  their  mouths,  in  the  time  of  low  water 
in  summer,  generally  become  entirely  closed  by  sand-bars,  and  that  the  sahnon,  in  their 
eagerness  to  ascend  them,  frequently  fling  themselves  entirely  out  of  water  on  the 
beach.' 


M 

Tha  oonclMion  is  thm  lUtod  that  it  i»  rather  •  Mreh  for  frnh  water  •imply 
ratter  than  a  desire  to -reach  their  natire  head-waters  which  impels  the  salmm  to  aot 
-!l.  M  *P[J** ,        °'  ~""^  ***"  '•  ^  •n«logy  of  the  migration  of  other  animals. 
V^S^Alt  ^if":f?*  *"  '''*•?'*  ^  ^^  Profes«)r  Alfred  Newton,  of  Cambridge. 
iLngland,  dUd  not  hesitate  to  speak  of  the  '  pertinacity  with  which  birds  return  to  their 
accustom^  breedinff  places  and  the  force  of  this  passionate  fondneM  for  the  old  home.' 
tIJiot  of  Birds.  IK  666).    No  doubt  the  parenU  are  in  most  cases  the  birds  which  return, 
"r^iTi^'V'  •*'"*"•"  ^  understand  the  case  of  a  pair  of  stone-curlews  ((Edicnemiu) 
wbicb  bred  for  many  years  on  the  same  spot,  as  Newton  stated,  even  after  the  surround- 
ings had  bron  completely  changed,  an  original  barren  rabbit  warren  having  become  a 
thick  end  flourishing  bush  or  planUtion.     That  it  is  the  same  pair  of  birds  which 
return  in  such  cases  is  difficult  to  prove,  but  as  Newton  pointed  out.  the  altematire 
raises  much  greater  difflcnlty  '  for  then  we  have  to  account  for  some  mode  of  com- 
municating precise  information  by  one  bird  to  another.'    But  the  young  as  well  as  the 
parents  are  prone  to  return  to  the  orijfioal  haunts,  as  it  has  long  been  known  that 
birds  of  prey  drive  away  their  offspring  from  their  own  haunU.    '  The  practice,  how- 
ever.   «aid  Newton.  '  is  not  limited  to  birds  of  prey  alone,  but  is  much  more  universal 
(op.  ctt.  p.  654).     There  is  much  ground  for  believing  that  one  of  the  main  causes 
of  migration  in  fishes  is  due  to  an  hereditary  tendency,  an  '  instinct'  it  may  be  called, 
for  want  of  a  better  term,  which  is  so  strong,  that  even  temperature  of  the  surrounding 
water  is  less  potent  as  a  stimulus,  and  apart  from  the  question  of  food  and  of  breeding 
this  tendency  to  move  over  geographical  areas  with  unerring  certainty  as  to  time  and 
direction  is  one  of  the  most  perplexing  and  powerful  that  the  scientific  student  can 
contemplate.    It  is  true  that,  as  Profeswr  Hind  stated,   'the  question  of  inshore  and 
off^ore  mackerel  fishing  grounds  becomes,  in  a  great  measure,  reduced  in  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence,  to  the  different  conditions  of  marine  climate  which  prevail  where  the 
Labrador  current  is  the  controlling  agent,  or  where  the  Gulf  stream  asserts  its  power 
and  iiifliipnce  during  the  summor  season,'  but  an  iiihorent  tendency  exists  also. 

Dr.  W.  Bell  Dawson  has  for  successive  seasons  covering  a  number  of  years  carried 
on  elaborate  and  accurate  investigations  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  though  it  is 
early  yet  to  attempt  any  generalizations  between  the  results  of  these  current  and  tide 
observations,  and  the  movements  of  the  great  schools  of  fish  in  the  Gulf,  such  as  cod 
haddock  and  mackerel.  The  general  result,  however,  is  to  show  that  the  outflow  from 
the  Gulf  18  compensated  by  an  inflow  both  in  the  Stroits  of  Belle  Isle  and  Cabot 
straits  and  that  the  changes  effected  by  this  compensating  circulation  are  what  may  be 
called  superficial  rather  than  deep-water.  At  greater  depths  than  60  or  60  fathoms 
these  important  currjnts  have  probably  little  or  no  effect.  As  Dr.  Dawson  has  reported  • 
'  In  reviewing  the  movements  of  the  water,  with  a  view  to  tracing  the  general  circula- 
tion of  the  Gulf,  it  is  the  principle  of  the  balance  of  flow  which  is  the  moat  evident 
Wherever  a  current  of  a  constant  character  occurs,  there  is  a  corresponding  retuni 
current  to  make  up  for  it.  Thus  in  Cabot  strait,  the  outflowing  water  in  the  Cane 
Breton  current  is  balanced  by  the  inflow  at  Cape  Ray;  the  northeastward  current  on 
the  west  coast  of  Newfoundland  is  balanced  by  the  contrary  direction  of  the  move- 
ment on  the  opposite  shore;  and  we  have  fairly  good  indications  of  a  return  flow  to 
compensate  for  the  Gaspe  current. 

'  It  is  this  balance  of  flow  which  points  to  the  nature  and  direction  of  the  circula- 
tion of  water  in  the  Gulf.  If  we  begin  to  trace  it  from  Cabot  strait,  where  the  balance 
between  the  gulf  and  the  ocean  takes  place,  the  inflow  at  Cape  Ray  appears  to  diffuse 
itself  more  or  less  widely  over  the  central  part  of  the  gulf,  but  it  regains  its  strength 
further  north  on  the  west  coast  of  Newfoundland,  and  makes  a  deep  bend  into  the 
northeastern  angle  of  the  gulf,  and  returns  westward  along  the  north  shore  On 
reaching  Cape  Whittle,  it  still  makes  westward;  and,  whether  as  an  actual  set  or  bv 
displacing  water  which  comes  more  directly  from  Cape  Ray,  it  appears  to  work  around 
the  eastern  end  of  Anticosti,  and  so  compensates  for  the  outflow  of  the  Gasp^  current 
from  the  eatuary  of  the  St.  Lawrence.    This  current  after  rounding  the  Qasp6  coast, 


17 

inakM  MotheMtward  m  •  general  Mt  or  drift  aeroM  the  gulf  to  the  wcatem  side  of 
Cabot  atrait;  and  iU  waters  there  leave  the  gulf  in  the  outflow  of  the  Cape  Breton 
eurrrat. 

'  It  alto  appears  that  the  whole  of  the  balance  or  compensation  in  the  gulf  currents 
takes  plaoe  at  the  surface  and  in  ordinary  underniurrents,  which  do  not  probably 
extend  to  a  greater  depth  than  some  50  or  60  fathoms.  There  is  nothing,  therefore,  to 
show  tho  nncesiity  for  any  appreciable  moTement  in  the  deep  water  from  60  to  80 
fathoms  downward,  which  lies  in  the  deep  channels  of  the  gulf.  Wheiv  direct  observa- 
tions hare  been  obuined,  this  deep  wster  appears  to  lie  quiescent,  without  any  move- 
ment that  can  be  detected.' 

But  to  the  ordinary  mind  the  outflow  of  such  a  vast  river  as  the  St.  Lawrenoe,  the 
largest  river  in  North  America,  must  appear  to  profoundly  affect  the  gulf  waters,  both 
aa  to  salinity,  temperature,  4c.;  but  Dr.  Dawson  has  pointed  out  that  the  'volume 
discharged  by  the  St.  Lawrence  has  been  measured  above  Lake  St.  Peter  at  different 
aeasong;  and  with  the  addition  of  the  Richelieu,  St.  Maurice,  Soguenay,  and  other 
tributaries  along  its  estuary,  the  total  volume  of  fresh  water  di»oharge  would  probably 
amount  in  all  to  340.000  cubic  feet  per  second.  This  volume  of  fresh  water  will  mingle 
with  sea  water  for  which  we  may  assume  a  density  of  10340,  as  this  may  be  taken  to 
represent  either  the  mean  density  of  Atlantic  coast  water  to  a  moderate  depth,  or  the 
density  of  the  Salter  water  in  the  gulf  itself.  Under  these  conditions!,  the  fresh  water 
of  the  St  Lawrence  would  be  sufficient  to  furnish  a  stream  of  water  reduced  to  the 
lower  density  of  10230  which  would  be  twelve  miles  wide  and  68  feet  deep,  and  moving 
with  a  speed  of  one  knot  per  hour.  This  would  represent  the  average  density  of  the 
Gaspfi  current,  and  would  probably  be  an  approximation  to  its  average  speed  and  its 
volume;'  but  the  outflow  known  as  the  Gssp<g  current  is  immenoely  greater  than  the 
volume  of  the  St.  Lawrer.ce  river  outflow.  As  Dr.  Dawson  has  estimated  '  such  a 
current  has  n  volume  forty-three  timus  greater  than  the  St.  Lawr-  .'•e  river.  The 
volume  of  the  Cape  Breton  current  also,  is  probably  much  the  sa  hese  outflows 

must  therefore  be  replaced  by  a  return  movement  at  the  entranci  the  lower  St. 
Lawrence;  somewhere  in  the  Anticosti  region,  and  also  by  a  return  flo.v  from  the  ocean 
into  the  gulf  area ;  as  the  discharge  of  the  St  Lawrence  furnishes  less  than  3  per 
cent  of  the  amount  required  in  either  case.' 

The  north  shore  current  as  well  as  the  current  flowing  direct  from  Cabot  strait 
must  bo  taken  into  account  in  explanation  of  this  vast  volume  of  outflow.  Dr.  Dawson 
indeed  has  pointed  out  that  while  '  the  volume  of  fresh  water  from  the  St  Lawrence' 
as  already  explained,  may  be  sufficient  to  dilute  the  sea  water  to  the  low  density  found' 
in  the  Oaspfi  current  or  in  the  corresiionding  current  flowing  outward  through  Cabot 
strait,  the  total  volume  of  water  which  actually  leaves  the  gulf  is  vastly  greater  than 
the  volume  of  fresh  water  which  it  receives  from  the  St.  Lawrence  river.  The  volume 
so  leaving  the  gulf  must,  therefore,  he  replaced  by  water  which  enters  it  from  the  ocean 
'  The  current  which  usually  makes  inwards  on  the  east  side  of  Cabot  strait,  may  be 
sufficient  to  compensate  for  the  outflowing  water  of  the  Cape  Breton  current;  although 
It  w  also  possible  that  the  outflow  from  the  gulf  may  be  partly  made  up  for,  by  the 
difference  of  flow  in  the  inward  direction  through  Belle  Isle  strait;  which  in  some 
years  may  be  considerable  in  the  early  spring.  The  relation  of  the  current  in  this 
strait  to  the  gulf  as  a  whole,  has  already  been  explained;  as  well  as  the  probable 
amount  of  inflow  at  Cape  Ray,  in  continuation  of  the  general  westward  tendency  of  the 
water  along  the  south  coast  of  Newfoundland.  The  quiescence  of  the  deep  water  in 
Cabot  strait  has  also  been  pointed  out,  in  this  connection.'  The  general  result  of  these 
counter  currents,  as  affecting  the  distribution  of  floating  ova  and  young  of  cod,  had- 
dock and  mackerel,  would  appear  to  be  that  the  spawn  is  kept  inside  the  gulf  limits 
and  not  swept  out  into  the  open  ocean,  while  the  young  fish  are  probably  carried  in 
circular  courses  in  local  areas,  never  very  distant  from  the  hatching  areas. 

I    have   the    materials    well    advanced   for    a    report   on   the   results    of   this 
sysUm  of  currents  on  the  distribution  of  floating  ova  which  vast  schools  of  cod  and 


m^^rcl  dapodt  in  tha  inrfM*  waton.  Th«  moroBMito  of  tha  aarly  fiy  mnat  of 
naeaidty  tw  monoMajpin  and  Taatly  laia  aaaj  to  aaoartaln  than  ia  tha  eaaa  on  tha  aorth 
and  waat  ahona  of  loaland  or  tha  oomapondinc  Noraa  ihoiaa  in  both  of  whioh  ladooa 
alaborata  aeiaaUflo  raaulta  hara  bean  publiahad. 

It  la  wdl  known  that  apawnin*  flah  rafuaa  to  laadily  taka  bait  and  tha  aarlj 
aehoola  of  cod  oaptunNl  in  Juna  hara  alraady  apawnad,  lonia  of  tham  prababb  a  month 

?h-'liK*!?!  ?''''*r"7'*['*  ^./'"  '^'  ••P*''*ny  ^  «*«P  wat.,  lUh.  ai«  undoubtadly 
tta  Ml  that  hara  taft  tha  ahallowar  watara  aud  tha  aurfaoa  waton  to  faad  on  tha  ri^ 
fauna  on  th.  floor  of  tha  laa.    Nor  ia  it  rary  diflarant  with  tha  macltaral  which  aarir 
in  Juna  are  distended  with  ripe  apawn,  and  refuaintf  to  taka  bait,  aa  aU  apawninc  »A 
do,  were  merc.JeMly  ilaughtered  by  purte-teinea,  ke.    By  the  end  of  July  apawninc  ia 
orer.  and  the  fiah  commence  to  feed  up  from  that  period,  thoufh  their  condition  U  not 
larourable  for  a  month  or  more,  or  not  until  the  flrat  ten  or  twelre  daya  of  Aucuat 
Such  being  the  fact,  rcfardin*  the  gulf  mackorel  and  cod  it  is  eaty  to  aea  that  both 
ttoeaeflaheriei  can  be  restore.!  where  decaye<l.  or  presenred  permanently  when  the 
5.i!!l'Tn  li*^/]'".^  maintained  by  a.  far  a.  poasibla  securing  that  tha  main 
flahery  shall  be  after  the  spawning  is  over,  and  if  poasibla  •♦tar  the  flah  hare  been 
feeding  for  three  or  four  weeks  and  hare  recorered  their  condition.    Inahore  flahing 
for  cod  rery  early  in  the  scMon  ia  not  to  be  encouraged,  and  early  deatruetion  of  the 
apawn.ng  schooU  of  mackerel  is  likewise  unjustifiable.    The  millions  of  spawn  produced 
by  one  female  cod  or  mackerel  indicates  how  easy  restoration  is,  if  only  a  .uffldent 
number  of  .pawners  be  allowed  undiaturbed  to  perform  their  spawning  function™  The 
eggs  and  yminflr  aiv  of  courw  dwitroyed  in  quantity  by  their  natural  enemiea.  and  theae 
are,  therefore  produced  on  a  large  sc^le.  but  the  balance  of  nature  is  such  that  if  not 
too  aenouily  disturbed  by  .uch  extorminatinir  instruments  as  the  c«hau.ting  nurse- 
seme  swwpmg  lu  complete  "chool.  of  spawning  fl,h.  there  ia  no  fear  for  the  wntinued 
abundance  of  such  marine  fish.    The  aid  of  fish  culture  and  the  operation  of  mariw 
flah  hatchene.  being  too  problematical  and  uncertain  to  aolre  the  difliculty  the  m«. 
taction  of  the  breeding  «,hoola  when  they  migrate  and  reach  their  sinS  Z^7. 
the  only  sure  and  safe  step  on  which  reliance  can  be  placed.  'P"^"*  «>«"  i»