Rissoid Larvæ as Food of the Young Herring. The Eggs and Larvæ of the Plymouth Rissoidæ

Abstract

The free-swimming young of the Rissoidse are particularly important in the plankton for there is always one or more species present in any month and they usually occur in great abundance. The various species live between tide-marks, in the laminarian and coralline zones and in deeper water in several fathoms depth; wherever tow-nettings are taken they usually contain some species of this family. The inshore waters, however, are the richest in rissoids. Even in winter certain species are common round the Plymouth coasts. Some years ago it was found that very young herring just before losing the yolk-sac and about a fortnight old had been eating small rissoids, evidently almost newly hatched (Plate I, Fig. 1). The herring up to a length of about 12 mm. and just after the yolk-sac had disappeared altogether continued to eat them but usually after this size they ate only small Crustacea. From 1917 to 1921 it was found that out of 140 young herring examined, 91 had fed on these small gastropods. In later years they were also found feeding on them (Lebour, 1921, 1924). Other minute planktonic organisms were eaten, including algæ, tintinnids, copepod and cirripede nauplii and very small adult copepods; also a minute bivalve larva but no other gastropod, although other veligers were present in the plankton, Patella being specially common. The young herrings hatch out from December to February, therefore these little gastropods must also hatch at this time and this proves to be the case for in the plankton there are large numbers of these very young veligers (Plate I, Figs. 7–8). Later on, in spring, older stages of the same mollusc abound and are quite the commonest veligers in the plankton near the coast (Plate I, Figs. 17–19). In the summer they have almost entirely disappeared.