114 FISH HARVESTING. 



they breed twice in the year. It is worthy 

 of remark that the young mature fish are very 

 large, when compared with the size of the mother. 

 In a female fish eleven inches in length, the 

 young were three inches long the adult fish 

 four-and-a-half inches high, the young an inch. 



The only instance I can find recorded of a 

 viviparous fish bearing any analogy to the Em- 

 biotocidce is the viviparous blenny (Zoarces vivi- 

 parus, Cuv.). Of course I exclude the sharks 

 and rays. Of the viviparous blenny little or 

 nothing appears to me to be known. On re- 

 ference to Pennant's ' British Zoology,' all he 

 says is, that it was discovered by Schonevelde, 

 and that Sir Robert Sibbald afterwards found 

 it on the Scotch coast, and it was mentioned by 

 LinnaBus in his account of the Swedish Museum. 



I quote the following paragraph verbatim from 

 Pennant's ' British Zoology.' Speaking of the 

 blenny, he goes on to say : ' It is viviparous, 

 bringing forth two or three hundred young at a 

 time. Its season of parturition is a little after the 

 depth of winter ; before midsummer it quits the 

 bays and shores, and retires into the deep, where 

 it is commonly taken. It conies into the mouth 

 of the Kiver Esk at Whitby, Yorkshire, where 

 it is frequently taken from off the bridge.' 



