Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-sv6ng Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-15T09:04:32.274Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The fecundity of the herring of the southern North Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

C. F. Hickling
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft

Extract

The number of eggs produced by the herrings of the East Anglian shoals increases with the length of the fish at a rate equal to the 3·465 power of the length, and with the age of the fish to the 0·66 power of the age. This fecundity is compared with that found in other races of herrings.

The number of eggs produced is closely correlated with the mean weight of the ovary, and it is found that the weight of the ovary increases with length at a rate equal to the fourth power of the length, and that a slightly higher rate applies to the testis.

The weight of the gutted fish, however, increases in relation to the length at a much slower rate, namely, as the 2·3 power of the length in the males, and the 1·5 power of the length in the females.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1940

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bjerkan, P., 1917. Age, maturity and quality of North Sea herrings during the years 1910–1913. Rep. Norweg. Fish. Mar. Invest., Vol. III, No. 1, 119 pp.Google Scholar
Dahl, K., 1907. The scales of the herring as a means of determining age, growth and migration. Rep. Norweg. Fish. Mar. Invest., Vol. II, No. 6, 36 pp.Google Scholar
Farran, G. P., 1938. On the size and number of the ova of Irish herrings. Journ. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer, Vol. XIII, No. 1, pp. 91100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R. A., 1938. Statistical Methods for Research Workers. Seventh edition, 356 pp.Google Scholar
Fulton, T. W., 1891. The comparative fecundity of sea-fishes. Ninth Ann. Rep. Fish. Board Scotland, for the Year 1890, Part III, pp. 243–68.Google Scholar
Hickling, C. F., 1933. The natural history of the hake. Part IV. Age-determination and the growth-rate. Min. Agric. Fish., Fish. Invest., Ser. II, Vol. XIII, No. 2, 120 pp.Google Scholar
Hickling, C. F. & Rutenberg, E., 1936. The ovary as an indicator of the spawning period in fishes. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XXI, pp. 311–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, W. C., 1925. Investigations into the age, length and maturity of the herring of the southern North Sea. Part II. The composition of the catches in 1922–1924. Min. Agric. Fish., Fish. Invest., Ser. II, Vol. VIII, No. 5, 48 pp.Google Scholar
Hodgson, W. C., 1929. Investigations into the age, length and maturity of the herring of the southern North Sea. Part III. The composition of the catches from 1923 to 1928. Min. Agric. Fish., Fish. Invest., Ser. II, Vol. XI, No. 7, 75 pp.Google Scholar
Jensen, A. J. C., 1927. On the influence of the quantity of spawning herrings upon the stock of the following years. Journ. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer., Vol. II, No. 1, pp. 44–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keys, A. B., 1928. The weight-length relation in fishes. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., Washington, Vol. XIV, pp. 922—5.Google Scholar
Lea, E., 1910. On the methods used in the herring-investigations. Pp. 7–174 in Hjort, Report on Herring Investigations until January 1910. Cons. Int. Explor. Mer, Publ. Circ, No. 53, 174 pp.Google Scholar
Marshall, S. M., Nicholls, A. G. & Orr, A. P., 1939. On the growth and feeding of young herring in the Clyde. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XXIII, pp. 427–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, A. M., 1913. The egg-production of certain fishes. Fish. Bd. Scotland. Fifth Report (Northern Area) on Fish. & Hydrograph. Invest, in the North Sea & Adjacent Waters, 1908–1911.Google Scholar
Nuttall, G. H. F., 1913. Observations of the biology of the Ixodidae. Parasitology, Vol. VI, No. 1.Google Scholar
Orton, J. H., 1916. An account of the researches on races of herrings carried out by the Marine Biological Association at Plymouth, 1914–15. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XI, pp. 71121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raitt, D. S., 1933. The fecundity of the haddock. Fisheries, Scotland Sci. Invest., 1932, No. 1, 42 pp.Google Scholar
Wynne-Edwards, V. C., 1929. The reproductive organs of the herring in relation to growth. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., Vol. XVI, pp. 4965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar