132 NORTH SEA INVESTIGATIONS. 
the season, but yielded plenty of fish in July and August. After 
that the boats ceased to go there, and whether the fish remained on 
the grounds or not is unknown. 
Haddock form an item no less important than the plaice. They 
appear to have been very abundant the whole time the trawlers were 
at work. They are of great size, the extreme length of those which 
I have measured in 1892 being 19 and 33 inches,* though no doubt 
both larger and smaller fish occurred. I should say that a North 
Sea haddock seldom attains a length exceeding 27 inches, whilst fish 
of only 10 inches are often thought worth bringing ashore. Without 
having submitted them to very minute comparison I can only say 
that the points in which Iceland differ from North Sea haddock 
appear to be only such as are dependent on the growth of the fish. 
They exhibit a very strong ridge in front of the first dorsal fin, and 
the lump in front of each eye is very prominent, but an approach to 
this condition is always apparent in the largest North Sea fish. 
The witch (P. cynoglossus) is, I suppose, the next important 
species. On the whole I concluded that Iceland fish were rather 
smaller than their North Sea allies ; they are also much darker in 
colour, and would appear to extend into more shallow water. 
Common dabs are, on the whole, considerably larger than North 
Sea fish, though I have occasionally noticed a specimen from the 
latter region as large as any from Iceland. In colour the northern 
representatives are a very dark sepia, devoid of spots or markings 
in the condition in which they reach this country. When long 
rough dabs have been brought in they have been of very large size, 
and similar in colour to the common dabs. 
Not very many halibut were trawled at Ingol’s Hoof, and such as 
were taken there were mostly of good size. On some other grounds, 
however, small fish, 14 inches and upwards, seemed rather abundant. 
Megrim (R. megastoma) attain a very large size, but not, I should 
say, larger than in the Irish seas. I was told by the skipper of a 
trawler that they were chiefly caught in shallow water near fresh- 
water outlets. This is in marked contrast to the habitat of the 
species on our own coasts, but every student of ichthyology knows 
that the vertical distribution of a fish is often found to vary with the 
horizontal. 
Whiting are very large, and, I believe, in good condition when 
caught, but as this fish requires to be very fresh to be valuable, it 
is not likely to form an important feature in the Iceland fishery. 
Norway “haddock” (Sebastes norvegicus) appear to be very 
abundant, but in 1592 only those taken in the last few hauls were 
* The fish from Madam Piper’s Bay are rather smaller than those from the other 
grounds, 
