Greinar (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.01.1943, Page 194

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they seek the coast for spawning. The 0-group (1—5 cm)
is ubiquitous as pelagic fry at the same time. The Capelin
plays a very important rðle as food for Cod (being its
favourite food) and other gregarious fishes, whales, seals
and birds, but is of only little direct value (as bait and
food for cattle)” (Sæm. 1932).
That is the outline given by Sæmundsson of the bio-
logy of the Capelin. The conclusions he arrived at as to
the age, are not based upon age-determinations by means
of scales or otoliths, but exclusively on measurements. He
states that both otoliths, scales and bones are useless for
this purpose (Sæm. 1927), but as he found three distinc-
tive lengthgroups at the same time and place, and as the
largest of them (up to 18 cm) represented maturating
animals only, he arived at the above mentioned conclusion.
1. The material upon which this short paper is based,
was gathered during my cruises on the patrol boat “Þór”
in the years 1935—1939, with the exception of a single
sample, taken in Keflavík (SW-Iceland) Apr. lst 1938.
Most of the material has only been measured and (for the
most part) sex-determined, while age-determinations and
vertebrae-countings have also been carried out in two
cases. Most of the material originates from the S- and
SW-coasts, as shown by the following figures:
S SW NW N E Tot.
Measured 777 2339 7 1 156 3280
Age-determined 691 691
V ertebrae-countings 773 773
Thus, we have measured 3280 fishes in all, age-analyzed
691, and carried out vertebrae-countings in 773 fish.
The material has been worked out in the University Re-
search Institute, Fishery Department by myself and my
assistant Mr. S. Vagnsson, who has carried out the verte-
brae-countings.