80
THE SEAS…—
These drifting eggs are to the.naked eye like little glass—
clear halls, varying in size :from;that of a small pin’s head
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to about that of a radish seed. . When rst cast out into the
water the eggs of many kinds of shes_are indistinguishable
save by slight differences in size.
But after a Ïew days the '
.
young sh begins to form within the egg and there appear
upon it ecks of colour, black,‘ yellow or red, generally :so
disposed on the body of the sh as to make the different
species quite distinguishable (Plate 29); There are, in
addition, in many eggs, globules of oil which either by their
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size, number, or colour, make it at once apparent to which
species they belong.
Thusto the specialist—the identication
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of shes’ eggs becomes no harder than dOes that of thebirds’ eggs on land, the only.dierence being that it gener—
ally has to be carried out under the microscope.
The eggs of the Angler Fish (Lophius pisaatorim) present
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.
a striking contrast to these single.-drifting eggs.
In this
.
case the eggs arekept together in a large ribbon of jelly,
Which may oat at the water surface.
Egg masses of the
.
Ang—ler Fish have been reported several square feet in ex.;
tent, at expanses- of jelly carrying millions of eggs.
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Practically the only one of our food shes which does not
f
lay drifting eggs— is the herrig.
The herring’s eggs are
:
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deposited On the sea oor, in certain locahties only, on
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stony ground (Plate 112).
The eggs a're sticky and clingï
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together
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in c1umps in the crevices between the stones
among which they. fall.
They are much enjoyed by other
sh as 'foOd, especially by the haddock (Gadus
Some of the spaWning grounds of the herring have .
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been located by the shermen owing to the presence
in their… ‘
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trawl catches of what they call “
Spawny haddock,” that iS,
,
hàddock whose
Stomachs are packed full with the herring’s
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,.
eggs;
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:
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…
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Many skates and dogäishes have .curious eggs, which are
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.
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