104 THE HALIBUT 



■ The Shetland grounds are also prolific. 



The fish is therefore a steam liner and trawler ^ fish ; and 

 a ' deep sea ' fish. 



Hjort analyses the catch as follows : 



Per cent. 

 Caught - at 25-40 fathoms . . 24-7 (young halibut) 



40-50 „ . . 33-0 



„ 50-100 „ . . 32-5 (large halibut) 



Life-History 



The ripe eggs (first found in May 1892) are very large — 

 averaging about one-eighth inch in diameter.^ The staff of the 

 Danish steamer Thor under Dr. Schmidt has worked at the life- 

 history of the fish, but the writer can find no reference in 

 English to the finding of eggs actually floating at sea, though 

 the fact that they do so float is assumed. In May 1892 Mr. E. 

 Mackie of Peterhead obtained ripe eggs from an 18 or 20-lb. fish 

 on the Bergen Bank 60 to 100 miles south-east of Lerwick in 

 the Shetlands. On the 5th May 1893 Mr. Duthie caught a ripe 

 female of 22 lb. on the Bergen Bank, but not until it was too late 

 to fertihzeher eggs. These two discoveries fixed the spawning 

 period for the Bergen Bank at the end of April and beginning of 

 May. It is believed that male hahbut ripen both earlier in the 

 year and at a smaller size than the hens. The S.S. TJior found the 

 larvae in the sea off the south and south-west coast of Iceland 

 in May and July ; and the Icelanders commonly assert that 

 Faxe Bay on the south-east coast is a great nursery ground 

 for ' baby halibut '. 



It is believed that the Iceland Government would like to 

 close this Bay against steam trawlers in order to protect this 

 ' nursery '. So the urgency of complete understanding and 

 explanation of the life-history is apparent. The big fish ap- 

 parently to some, extent prefer rocky bottoms — where the 

 trawl cannot operate. So far as the writer can discover, the 

 only record (in English at any rate) of any attempt to read 

 halibut scales or to ' age ' the fish at different stages of develop- 

 ment is that of Mr. Storrow, to which reference is made below. 



People who exploit Iceland and Faeroe waters would study 

 with great interest any accounts which could throw light upon 

 the habits of this species — the ' prime fish ' of the northern 



1 Sailing smacks and inshore fishermen between them landed 6 tons in 

 England. 



* Depths of Ocean, p. 451. 



3 See British Marine Fishes, p. 316. The eggs vary from 3-07 to 3-81 mm., 

 and were ' perfectly ripe ' at 3 3 mm. About 32,000 would be contained in 

 a quart. 



