Wrote Letter L-305 of 1696-09-27 to Hendrik van Bleyswijk about the age of fishes, especially herring, using scales and the structure of greater weever's spine and the painfulness of its sting
Date:
September 27, 1696
Text of the letter in the original Dutch and in English translation from Alle de Brieven. The Collected Letters at the DBNL - De Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren
Leeuwenhoek wrote this letter about …
About the age of fishes. Herrings that spawn off the Dutch coast and in the Zuider Zee are not yet one year of age. They migrate in order to look for food elsewhere, like the allis shad from the rivers. The greater weever, the structure of its spine, and the painfulness of the sting with it. Scales of fishes: no annual growth of a new ring takes place, but an entirely new scale grows against the old one.
