THE SCARCER FISHES IN ABERDEEN MARKET 



239 



The above Data, arranged according to Season. 



Areas. 



34 



120 



Furthermore, the Goldseeker took one specimen, a female 

 43 cm. long, on 23rd August 1909, at 59 26' N., 8 24' W., 

 at a depth of 1257 metres ; and a very young female, 20 cm. 

 long, on 18th July 1913, at 61 34' N., 2 4' E., at a depth of 

 380 metres. But these two occurrences, the former by reason 

 of its remoteness and great depth, the latter both by reason 

 of the depth and the small size or youth of the specimen, 

 belong to a different category from the rest. 



To these observations of our own, I may add (apart from 

 the W. of Ireland examples of which we shall speak after- 

 wards) one fish recorded by Meek from the Pentland Firth, 

 in August 1901 ; and two recorded by Holt from the deep 

 water north of the Great Fisher Bank, in the second week of 

 May 1893. 



Let us plot these various occurrences, somewhat roughly, 

 on a chart (Fig. 2), not attempting to define the precise 

 locality of each, but simply arranging them within the squares 

 (of 2 longitude and i latitude) which we are accustomed to 

 use in dealing with our fishery statistics. We then see at 

 once that they all group themselves in a sort of belt, running 

 from near the mouth of the Skagerack, round the Shetlands 

 and to the west of the Lewes, and so keeping, on the whole, 

 near and parallel to the 100-fathom line. 1 They do not come 



1 I have omitted from this and other charts the fish recorded from 

 23 miles E.S.E. of Aberdeen, in February 1902. This record was quite 

 exceptional, so much so that one is even tempted to doubt whether the 

 place of capture was correctly given. 



70 2D 



