The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1907-08-15
THE OCEANS TEEMING LIFE.
,.nense Numbers of the Herrings. What
They Live On.

,rmense Numbers Of the Herrings. What
They Live On.
c,,pE BASIN, CANADA, Aug. 9. A
.,;n with the fishermen who go to meet
w.. .t5 Great armies of herring on their
ai.urely semi-annual migration to the
awning grounds is revelation in the
,Psy of affording a conception of the
,"meuse number of these fish.
-T IF is even exciting to catch sight of
.,a berring school for the first time.
NE sea glitters far as the eye can reach
,jth the reelected sheen from the silver
gied multitude. The air vibrates with
'6p wings of innumerable gannets and
,t6er gulls, swooping as often as appe-
NE calls to snatch another meal from
G- prodigal provision beneath. There
W. sp.ashing, romping fringe on three
.irs of seals, white, piglike pOrpoises,
Kite blue herring sharks, with now and
hen the tiukelike tail of a grampus,
sanding bolt upright a dozen feet out
Il the water.
r.e great curtain nets, as well as the
,s1 Is have to be of the stoutest ma
.sra.s. or they would be, as indeed they
,flsu are, smashed by the dead weight
u the multitude. The side ropes and
a7shes are at certain seasons encrusted
several inches thick with herring spawn,
rlrh gives the water milky appear
,a.r Tor miles. But all this does not
ryr one such an idea of the amazing
,4 If these silverclad armies of the
.sq I'd, Ices a walk ON the beach in some
Z, tap New Brunswick coast counties
finer heavy gale in the spawning time.
rl- s-gs of the herring fall at that sea-
Nh Trough the water, and in gummy
,.lsrs atfix themselves to rocks and
.ares at the bottom.
r,tu one is about quarter of an
ra tn size, protected by fairly stout
!. s.uous slightly horny shell. These
e.. o'ten thrown ont by heavy gales
u he upon the shore knee deep.
r.sarrs busy themselves for days cart
g- aese eggs to their fields, where
4e. form a valuable manure.
tu abserver in Pleasant Bay, on the
Ua.t4len Islands, reported that the
,5.a vas covered two or three feet
nee. with them for several miles" No
MUS .ructed person could believe that
gasp Incredible masses of marine tiot-
,,p. we're of animal origin. There are
#uaslIds of tons of them, each ton
i..rs.ating millions of potential her
rigs.
H.. shoals of behring's are never ap-
rr loly smaller, in spite of the vast
Jua} titles of spawn thus destroyed by
.ies or high tides. Each herring, it
as jely been demonstrated, produces
about 70, 900 eggs each season. The old
MtsiSts used to calculate the num-
e ten times as great.
f .iShermen take thousands of bar
-a, mature herrings each year. The
a,..l fishery alone used 10000 bar
ri, or bait; the cod fishery many
.mss mat number. The manufacture
It rring oil disposes of immense
g.l Lots also. Each barrel of fish pro-
igg-~ nearly three gallons of oil and a
FL. ~ a ton of expensive fish guano.
-lt ne best fish are barrelled for sale.
yu lie Pacific Coast the fish are even
la5 numerous than on this side of the
oa ent. In one year one of the
5ueican companies, the Alaska Oil
d5 ruano Company, shipped $4,000
z OBS of herring oil, 1920 tons of
,aHn and 1872 barrels of choice her
-ag~ This represented about 10000
.rr- of behring's. Hundreds of thou
.ad- Of barrels are taken altogether in
A4~aean waters each year.
How these prodigious armies of fish
ret .heir living in the sea has only been
.yletly determined during the past few
Tears. In fact, experiments to perfect
he proof are still going on along this
coast
Glowing to a logical conclusion the
s-g4ment that all animal life depends
Lrett!y or indirectly upon the vegeta-
BE singdom, dragnet composed of
a nest sort of boiling cloth used by
Iiie was drawn slowly behind a
steamer across a bay. The result was
.UgpriSing. An acre of salt water, it
Was dlscovered, produces about as much
77gsration in year as an acre of good
meadow land.
uHa great naturalist has computed
Via. # one of a countless number of va.
wing minute organisms was allowed
perfect development without any coun
i5Hgung destruction for one month the
l~9gct would be mass of protoplasm
,a4r times larger than the sun. One
f.e piant multiplies itself by breaking
.Wu about five times day and be-
1-s mature in three hours.
An immense number of tiny animals
uWse upon this rapidly increasing
-l.age. and together with it constitute
Ianston, which is the scientific name
la tIs prepared ration of meat and
st1s dealt out in amazing quantities
talyure's free lunch counter.
The herring family is provided with
Ill., aItomatic straining apparatus OF
Tie ltmost fneness whereby as they
.rathe the water through their giils
,Ley unconsciously sift out their daily
,ooJ Thus they have the happiness OF
itedlug without effort and of finding
1'eI supplies without exertion, anG
t0s they stand at the very apex OF
1ta.lstic trampdom.
10 one who knows the secret of thf
green coloring of the ocean the wonder
l. not how do its countless animals gel
eelf living, but how the amazing vege.
@,lou of the plankton can possibly be
4pt under. even by the multitudious
saling things which throng those
i@4eous pasturages.
Peanuts are Nutritious