Etude biologique de la sardine du golfe de gascogne et du plateau celtique

Statistics on the pilchard fishery in the Bay of Biscay are given. In this area in 1967 a biological study was undertaken of adults, eggs and larvae. Breeding areas have been better defined. Breeding occurs in winter and spring and the fish are stenothermic when breeding. Zones yielding most eggs and larvae may bear no relation to the supposed areas of origin of fish with different mean vertebral counts. It was thought that each main region of the Bay (Armorican massif, Aquitanian basins and Cantabrian region) had its own race, but this may not be so, and the racial significance of the vertebral mean should be re-investigated.