Abstract
THE sardine is the principal food-fish of the lands bordering the Adriatic Sea. It is fished only from April to September, since it disappears from the fishing grounds from October to March. This period is the spawning time, when it migrates to regions hitherto unknown. The eggs float in the upper layers of the sea and are therefore found in the plankton. We have now been able to determine the spawning areas by means of systematic plankton studies throughout the Adriatic1. In the course of this work, it was found that the sardine (Sardina pilchardus) spawns at a certain time of day, namely, in the evening. This is an extension of the finding of Ahlstrom2 for the Californian sardine (Sardinops caerulea). Since the phenomenon seems to be unknown in other marine fishes, we think it worth while to describe our method and results.
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References
Gamulin, T., Rep. Inst. Oceanog., Split, No. 4 C (1954).
Ahlstrom, E. H., Spec. Sci. Rep. No. 23, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.A. (1943).
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GAMULIN, T., HURE, J. Spawning of the Sardine at a Definite Time of Day. Nature 177, 193–194 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/177193b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/177193b0
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