The Reproductive Organs of the Herring in Relation to Growth

Abstract

SUMMARYFrom two series of samples of different populations of herrings from the neighbourhood of the Isle of Man, data were obtained of the lengths, weights, gonad-weights, and ages of 396 mature fishes. The growths of the whole body and of the gonads were represented by the upper portions of S-shaped curves. The male and female body-weights are nearly the same at any age over the range considered, but the testes of the male are always heavier than the ovaries of the female in such comparable fishes. The females attain a greater size than the males.The weight of the gonads bears a linear relationship (as a first approximation) to the total weight of the fish over the range of size considered. The regression functions evaluated for the two sexes arewhere y is the gonad-weight and x the total weight of the fish, both in grams. The difference between the weights of testes and ovaries in male and female fishes of the same size is therefore about 4·7 gm., which is shown to be significant. It cannot be due to specific gravity of growthrate differences, since the regression coefficient (0·26) is the same for both sexes.It is suggested that the reproductive organs start to develop in the summer following the laying down of the first winter ring on the scales; and that the initial handicap in female gonad-weight may be due to the males being smaller than the females at this time.Confirmation of the conclusions drawn from the Calf herring is given by a similar analysis of the Low herring samples.