42 NOKTII SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 



Tentli haul, 8 a.m., June 8th. There were very few small plaice 

 this haul and few brill, but turbot and haddock were plentiful ; 

 soles were also scarce. The vessel had been further to the westward, 

 although the depth, namely, 10 to 12 fatlioms, had not been much 

 greater. I made a careful examination of the turbot. There was 

 one ripe female, 24 in. long and several ripe males. I fertilised the 

 spawn from this specimen and threw it overboard, that it might not be 

 wasted, as the only bottle available already contained fertilised turbot 

 spawn. There were 9 immature females, the smallest 13^ in., the 

 largest loHn., and 1 female approaching maturity, 14| in. long; 12 

 mature males, the smallest 13 in., the largest 10 in. long. There were 7 

 brill, rather small. The rest of the fish saved were : — 



2 baskets gibbed haddock. 



H „ kit 



2 „ medium plaice 



I „ small „ 10^ to 12 in. 



II pair of soles. 



14 large latchets, 2 or 3 smalL 

 1 basket of cod. 



Eleventh haul, 2.30 p.m., June 8th. This haul we again got more 

 brill, soles and small plaice, and fewer haddock, having steered towards 

 the land again. 3 small plaice, put into a tub of clean water after the 

 men began to gut the fish, lived vigorously for some time, until they 

 were thrown overboard. Many of the small plaice were alive when the 

 first shovelfuls were thrown over. The smallest of them was 6^ in. long 

 and there were numbers 7 in. ; one of the latter measured 2i in. across 

 the broadest part of the body, excluding the fins. The mesh at the cod 

 end of the trawl is nearly 3 in. in length when elongated and it seems 

 strange that plaice of this size do not escape. The reason is that the 

 skeleton is rigid, and the strong anal spine acts as an obstacle ; the 

 young plaice, too, has no instinct towards working its way through an 

 aperture as the sole has, and none of the required agility — its only 

 instinctive movement, when disturbed, is to Hap its body up and down. 

 The smallest fish in the haul was a dab 41 in. long, an immature female. 

 There were 47 turbot and brill — of these, 5 turbot, and 9 brill, were 

 under 12 in. The smallest turbot was 8i in. long, and its stomach 

 contained 2 sand eels, and 2 small dabs. I examined a sample of the 

 refuse : it contained 27 plaice under 8 in., and 40 over that limit. The 

 rest of the fish saved were : — 



4 baskets medium plaice. 



6 „ small „ 



i „ gibbed haddock. 



U „ kit 



I „ whiting. 



32 pair of soles, the smallest 10^1 in. ; none thrown overboard. 



