75 



16. The above hauls are characteristic of the results obtained 

 everywhere from mud bottom at depths of 6 to 30 fathoms 

 along the Malabar Coast. In the shallower parts of this area 

 we are on the fringe of the inshore feeding grounds of a number 

 of species of small round fishes, while the hauls made in the 

 deeper water usually gave signs of the presence of the plaice- 

 like Psettodes irumei, a predaceous flat-fish which appears to be 

 the only important bottom fish on muddy bottom in the area 

 under notice. 



17. The results obtained by trawling in the zones which 

 bound the 10 to 30 fathom region both on the landward and 

 seaward sides were frequently much richer, a consequence of 

 the richer and more varied fauna of the bottom in both regions. 

 Inshore, especially in the neighbourhood of river mouths, the 

 bottom contains a varying admixture of sand ; rocky patches, 

 giving foothold and hiding to sedentary organisms, worms, and 

 Crustacea, are occasionally met with, while retarded inshore 

 currents and the eddies formed by the projection of headlands 

 provide conditions favourable to the concentration of swarms of 

 neritic (inshore) plankton, especially of the smaller crustaceans 

 as amphipods, copepods, ostracods and schizopods, which con- 

 stitute in turn the lure directly for young and small fishes and 

 indirectly for large species. In the vicinity of river mouths 

 and in bays under the shadow of rocky headlands our trawl 

 results showed rays and flat-fishes (Pleuronectids) to be thickly 

 congregated, as far example off the mouths of the Beypore, 

 Beliapatam and Mangalore rivers. Typical hauls made in 

 these places, i.e., off river mouths and in indentations of the 

 coast, are the following : — 



18. Haul 6, 6th November. In 7 fathoms west of Beypore 

 river, mud bottom. Trawl down 50 minutes. Eesults : — 

 A fine show of nine good sized Bay-fish [Pteroplatea micrura) 

 and half a bucketful of round fish and prawns. The round 

 fishes included two species of catfish. 



19. Haul 10, 9th November. In 6 fathoms. Off the 

 mouth of Darmapatam river, near Tellicherry. Haul between 

 8 to 9 a.m. ; bottom mud. Catch : — Two large Kay- fish 

 (Pteroplatea micrura), five good sized Drepane punctata, one 

 black pomfret, 18 mixed round fish and a handful of prawns. 



20. Haul 13, 9th November. Five fathoms south-west of 

 Cannanore ; bottom mud. Haul down from noon to 1 p.m. 

 Catch: — 7 Psettodes irumei, three large Kay-fish (one Aetobatis 

 narinari and two Pteroplatea micrura) and 40 mixed round 

 fishes. The Psettodes, dark coloured plaice-like flat-fish, were 



