In the present paper are discussed the migratory routes and populations of sardine, Sardinops mela-nosticta (T. & S.), migrating to the waters off the western coast of Kyushu in the season of fishery (April-November), the samples collected in 1958 to 1962 being referred to.
The method used herein is the same as proposed in reference 3. The results obtained as follows:
1) The catch in the inactive season are composed of the 1-, 2- and 3-ring fish, perhaps belonging to the stock D which is the group migrating in the season to said region from the southern part of the Japan Sea. Stocks E, F, G, H and I discerned in the previous papers (see references 2 and 3) are indifferent to the present samples.
2) Judging from Table 1 and Fig. 1, it is presumed that the sardine caught in April and May, 2- and 3-ring are mainly of, these in July and August of 2-ring, those in August and September of 1-, 2- and 3-ring and those in October and November of 1-ring.
3) The spent fish of Stock D, which have completed spawning during the month from January to March in the coastal waters off Yamaguchi Prefecture, migrate for the most part northeasterly along the Japan Sea coast of Honshu. The rest of the stock removes southerly in the waters off the western coast of Kyushu; The 2- and 3-ring fish earlier and the 1-ring fish later.