258 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



in the southern hemisphere (apart from introduced trout) so that these two deficiencies are by no 

 means peculiar to the Patagonian shelf. The most encouraging features, more apparent when the 

 quantitative data are considered, are that a true hake is common on the Patagonian grounds, that 

 minor quantities of another merlucciid, a butterfish or pomfret, and lesser numbers of other species 

 are all good eating, and that there is a Falkland herring which may prove to be of real value. Though 

 our gear was admittedly unsuitable for sampling this last species, its abundance is placed beyond doubt 

 by the frequency with which it was observed in the stomachs of larger piscivorous species. 



The Patagonian fish fauna has certain species in common with other southern hemisphere localities, 

 and it may be thought that in attempting to draw descriptive parallels it would have been better to 

 turn to these rather than to the northern hemisphere. I did not attempt this because the essentially 

 subtropical conditions of the other southern localities leads to the prevalence of various percoid groups 

 very different from the Nototheniiformes, so that although New Zealand for example has some species 

 m common with Patagonia, and a few others closely allied, the general character of the vastly richer 

 fish fauna is ahogether different from that of the Patagonian one. This remark applies with even 

 greater force to the fish faunas of Southern Australia and South Africa. It is mainly in the scarcity 

 or absence of certain groups, as Salmonidae and Gadidae, that the fish faunas of these areas can be 

 said to show any resemblance to that of Patagonia. The extent to which we are forced back to the 

 northern hemisphere for closer parallels is a measure of the extent to which meteorological factors, 

 chiefly temperature, determine the conditions of life in the sea. 



It IS a striking fact that a true hake is found in each of the regions we have discussed : Merluccius 

 merluccius to the west of Great Britain, M. bilinearis in the Gulf of Maine, M. productiis on the Pacific 

 coast of North America, M. capensis off South Africa, and M. hubbsi on the Patagonian shelf. Three of 

 these five species are already heavily exploited: prior to the war Hickling's work had shown (1935a) 

 that the European stock was being overfished, while in the last twenty years M. bilinearis has risen 

 from the status of 'rubbish' to the New England fishermen, to the highest place among the frozen 

 fish products of the eastern states. Moreover, only half the catch is frozen. M. capensis forms a third 

 of the catch of the trawling industry at the Cape, where large quantities of it are salted and dried. 

 M. productus is not yet sought after. In a region where better fish are still abundant the softness of 

 Its flesh makes it unpopular. In less favoured localities the other species of hake, probably little 

 better m this respect, are valued and are successfully marketed, owing to improved methods of pre- 

 servation and storage. This is especially true of M. bilinearis, half of the catch being sold inland in the 

 form of frozen fillets, etc. This species is the one most nearly allied to the Patagonian M. hiibbsi. 

 Such small quantities of the last named as are caught by the small trawlers which operate from the 

 mouth of the River Plate, well to the north of our area, fetch prices well up to the average in the 

 Buenos Aires market. 



In summarizing the points dealt with in this section of the report, we may say that the fish fauna of 

 the Patagonian shelf is peculiar in quality and in the small number of species to be found there The 

 number of potentially valuable forms is small too, and their quantity not encouraging, but hake are 

 moderately abundant. The nearest parallel among fish faunas of better-known regions is probably 

 that with the North Pacific, but with important reservations detailed above. There is also some 

 resemblance to the conditions found on the hake grounds to the west of the British Isles. 



