330 ANCHOVrES IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. 



Glupeidas, and a single somewhat long anal fin. The dorsal fin is at 

 the centre of the back ; the pelvic fins are inserted in front of the 

 dorsal fin, as in the sprat; the pectoral fins are close behind the 

 gill openings. The gill openings are very large, their upper angles 

 extending almost to the dorsal edge of the head. There is nothing 

 very remarkable about the scales ; they are rather larger than those 

 of the herring, and, as in most Clupeoids, are very deciduous : there 

 are no keeled scales along the ventral edge. The skin is much more 

 delicate than that of any species of Clujpea, and the flesh also in the 

 fresh state is very tender, though when salted it has considerable 

 firmness. The fish never exceeds 8 inches in length ; Eisso gives 

 the maximum at Nice as 2 decimetres, or 7|- inches, and Mr. Dunn 

 says he has obtained it 8 inches long off the coast of Cornwall. But 

 5 to 6 inches is the more usual length. Those I have obtained from 

 the south coast of England are from 5 to 5j inches long. 



The range of distribution of the anchovy extends from the 

 Mediterranean to the south coast of Norway and the entrance of the 

 Baltic. It is common on both sides of the Italian peninsula, and at 

 all the Italian fishing centres there is a regular anchovy fishery in 

 the summer months. One of the largest fisheries is at the island of 

 Gorgona, off Leghorn. The fish is also abundant on the Mediterra- 

 nean coast of France, where the fishery is regularly pursued in its 

 season at every fishing port, the product of a season's fishing at 

 different centres varying from a few hundred kilogrammes (1 kilo. 

 = 2 lbs.) up to over 300,000 kilos. Anchovies also occur on the 

 Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal, but I have 

 no annual statistics showing the extent of the fishery in these coun- 

 tries. There are anchovy fisheries also along the Atlantic coast of 

 France, on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. In the French oflicial 

 statistics we find that at Bayonne in 1884 the total catch of anchovies 

 was 30,000 kilos. ; and at Quimper, at the northern end of the Bay of 

 Biscay, the catch in the same year was 683,000 kilos. On the 

 Channel coast of France anchovies are not mentioned in the French 

 official statistics among the products of the fisheries, and I have 

 found no mention of any anchovy fishing on the coast of Belgium. 

 But on the Dutch coast there is a regular anchovy fishery in the 

 estuary of the Schelde and in the Zuyder Zee. The annual catch 

 in the Zuyder Zee according to the Dutch official statistics varies 

 from 2000 to 100,000 anlcers, an anker containing 50 kilos. 



On the coasts of the British Islands no anchovy fishery has ever 

 been carried on, but the species has long been known to occur on 

 these coasts, especially on the south coast of England. It was first 

 recorded in England by Eay, who obtained specimens from the 

 estuary of the Dee. Donovan, in his British Fishes, published in 1804, 



