DISTRIBUTION AND GENERAL NOTES ON THE SPECIES 



303 



been fishing foul.' Possibly, therefore, we should be justified in disregarding the results from this 

 anomalous station as 'not strictly comparable'. The data from the series as a whole, however, appear 

 to fall quite naturally into inshore and offshore groups, and when so lumped the doubtful result from 

 St. WS860 is completely swamped by the more abundant data from the other two inshore stations. 



Table 21. March data bearing on hake movements in the northern region (21-25 March 1932) 



The data from individual stations are shown in Table 21. The very large catch at St. WS853, the 

 station nearest the land, was the best we obtained at any time. The hake here were of small size, but 

 some were ripe, and the high proportion of males was also noteworthy. It would seem clear that the 

 smallest mature females are the last to spawn in any given season. 



Table 22. The March data combined into inshore and offshore groupings 



Distance 

 ofFshore 

 sea miles 



Less than 100 

 More than 140 



Total 

 hake 



1425 

 391 



Hours 



trawling 



(no. of 



hauls) 



3(3) 

 3(3) 



Hake 

 per 

 hour 



475 

 130 



Males 



Nos. 



549' 



205 



Mean 

 length 



35-8 

 39-0 



Females 



Nos. 



349 

 186 



Mean 

 length 



407 

 47-1 



Sex 

 ratio 



75 

 52 



* =29 males were not measured at St. WS853, the number given refers only to the measured specimens upon which the 

 mean length given is based ; hence the discrepancy with the ' total ' column. 



The combined data (Table 22) show very clearly that smaller fish predominated in the inshore 

 catches and that the proportion of males was higher inshore. The differences m mean lengths are 

 strongly significant by the usual statistical tests. Comparison with the December figures (Table 20) 

 indicates that a complete change in the hake population had taken place; in March at the inshore 

 stations, the females were much smaller and the males larger than in December. Another striking 

 feature of the March results is the high sex ratios-even at the offshore stations the proportion 

 of males was much higher than earlier in the year. This is probably due to the main concentration for 

 spawning being later in the summer than exact correspondence with the habits of the European 

 species would demand. Thus the larger oflfshore fishes were probably only just beginning to disperse 

 after spawning. In this respect M. hubbsi may come closer to M biMnearrs (where the correlation 

 between shoreward concentration and the peak of annual temperature is very strong) than to M 

 merUcciMs, where the first wave of larger spawners moves inshore at least two months b fore^he 

 maximum temperatures are reached, and the second wave contains ";7;'^77^^,^^^^^^^^^^^ 

 be borne in mind that the range of temperature is much greater in the habitat of M hdrneans than m 

 ha o^rJ./.^.) The timing of the cycle of movement of M. hubbsi ^^Pf ^^^^ --^J^;^^^^^ 

 that lateness of the whole 'plankton calendar' of these southern waters, which was described m the 



