After a detailed inspection in 2009 we found that spawning beds seemed to be extremely patchy, where continuous egg deposits extended over a distance of ca 50–70 m, and in many cases much less (Figure 2). Herring eggs were present from Karklė to Palanga Talazoparib (Figure 1), meaning that the Karklė spawning ground had successfully recovered from the ‘Globe Assimi’

oil-spill incident in 1981. Moreover, areas with detected spawning locations were larger than during previous mapping efforts (BaltNIIRH 1989). Our data suggest that most probably there are not two separate spawning locations but rather a single continuum, and that the previously reported pattern is due to the patchiness of the spawning beds. Generally Baltic herring does not spawn on soft bottom substrates (Rajasilta et al. 1989, Kääriä et al. 1997), but prefers hard substrates with vegetation. Most likely there are no preferences for specific algal species: for example, in the coastal waters of Finland Baltic herring spawns on at least 32 different plant species (Aneer 1989). During this study Baltic herring eggs were found on three different substrates: perennial red algae (F. lumbricalis and P. fucoides), and boulders without vegetation but overgrown by blue mussels Mytilus trossulus. The majority Lumacaftor purchase of eggs occurred

on F. lumbricalis (21 locations out of 25), P. fucoides (3 locations), and on M. trossulus (1 location). In earlier studies only F. lumbricalis meadows were regarded as a substrate important for Baltic herring reproduction ( BaltNIIRH 1989, Olenin & Labanauskas 1995, Maksimov et

al. 1996, Fedotova 2010). Although the significance of F. lumbricalis in providing spawning substrate is undeniable, other substrates were used too. Of total 98 points sampled, 64 had significant (more than 10%) F. lumbricalis cover, therefore eggs were present in only 32.8% (21 out of 64) of potentially suitable F. lumbricalis locations. The prolonged sampling period in 2009 allowed us to collect eggs at all developmental stages, from the very first (a–e) to the very last ones (p–q) ( Table 2). Comparing eggs collected on the same day from different depths ( Table 2, see 15 April and 23 April), it seems that the development of eggs laid in shallower areas was lagging behind that of eggs laid in deeper areas. It is known that Baltic herring spawns in waves ( Krasovskaya 2002): this could be the result of earlier next spawning in deeper areas. In this study three spawning locations were visited twice. Two of them (one with F. lumbricalis and one with M. trossulus) were visited on 7 April 2009, when eggs were found in the very early developmental stages (a–e). Three weeks later on F. lumbricalis we found eggs in the final developmental stages (p–q) and already empty egg shells, whereas no eggs or empty egg shells were present on M. trossulus. Since the two spawning locations are only 980 m apart and the respective depths are 8 and 8.5 m, indicating similar environmental conditions, the eggs on M.