Herring Investigations at Plymouth. II. The Average Number of Vertebrae for Herrings from the English Channel and South-East of Ireland

Abstract

The published observations of other workers, on samples of herrings taken from the area under consideration, whether they relate to the study of such morphological characters as the number of vertebræ and keeled scales, or are chiefly concerned with the examination of the growth of the fishes as indicated by their scales, demonstrate very clearly that the eastern, central and western sectors of the area are visited by herrings which differ in character. It will be convenient to summarise the opinions of these workers under the headings of the statistical regions in which the samples were taken. The reader is referred to the chart on page 269, which shows the geographical extent of the regions dealt with.