Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ivi. (191 2), No. I5. 



XV. The Smelt in Rostherne Mere. 

 By T. A. Coward, F.Z.S. 



( Received April 2gth, igi2. Read May J th, igi2.) 



The Smelt or Sparling, Osmerus eper/anus, is normally, 

 during the greater part of the year, an inhabitant of salt 

 water, but during the breeding season, from March to 

 May, it frequents estuaries or ascends rivers into fresh 

 water. 



As a rule, however, it spawns in brackish water or 

 but a short distance above the influence of the tide. It 

 can, however, like other anadromous salmonoids, live in 

 fresh water for a considerable period, and it has been 

 successfully kept and even induced to spawn in freshwater 

 ponds. It appears to be a permanent freshwater resident 

 in some Swedish lakes, but in Britain it is only known in 

 one water, Rostherne Mere in Cheshire. 



The Smelt was known to be an inhabitant of 

 Rostherne Mere in the early part of the i8th century, 

 for Richard Brookes refers to it, under the heading of 

 "Sprat or Sparling," in his " Art of Angling," published 

 in 1740. Day also mentions Rostherne in his " Ikitish 

 Fishes," but states that it was introduced. The origin of 

 this assertion is uncertain, and there is no record of the 

 introduction. 



Early in the 19th century, I am informed, the Smelt 

 was occasionally captured in the Mere, and I believe that 

 it has been found in the stomachs of pike which were 

 captured in the Mere. In February, 1895, I cut a number 



/ujie 6th, igi2. 



