OF THE GRIMSBY TRAWL FISHERY. 391 
but young turbot of about an inch and a little larger have been 
found by Mr. Cunningham, still at the surface, in Plymouth Sound, 
and I have no doubt that in the North Sea also these fish approach 
the shore towards the end of their period of pelagic life. I know 
of no instance of these very young turbot being taken anywhere 
but at the surface, but shortly after the adult form has been 
assumed they evidently descend to the bottom. 
Exactly where they pass the first winter of their life remains yet 
to be discovered, but it is almost certainly in comparatively shallow 
water and at no great distance from land. From the first warm 
weather of spring throughout the summer young turbot of the 
previous season’s brood, measuring about 3 to 5 inches, are found 
sparingly among the shrimps and small plaice at the extreme 
margin of the Humber estuary, and elsewhere along the sandy 
beaches of our own coast. I have taken them myself at St. Andrews, 
Filey, and Cromer, and have no doubt they are generally distributed 
along the east coast. The number taken is nowhere large as 
compared with the young of other species, but it must be remem- 
bered that the turbot, nowadays at any rate, is far from abundant 
at any stage of existence on our own coasts. I have never heard 
of such young fish being met with anywhere but at the margin or 
near it, and do not believe that they range at all into deep water 
until a larger size has been attained. I have had no opportunity 
of acquainting myself with the haunts of fish at the corresponding 
stages on the Continental coast, but have been informed that they 
are common in the spring and summer and in the large shallow 
sandy expanses about and within the barrier chain of islands on the 
Dutch and Danish coasts, and have no doubt of the correctness of 
the information.* 
Larger, but not necessarily older fish, are also found in quite 
shallow water, close inshore, on both coasts, but much more 
abundantly on the eastern side of the North Sea. There appears to 
be a gradual removal from the immediate vicinity of the margin as 
the size increases, but I do not find many fish under twelve inches 
in length, outside that area which the moderate degree of respect. 
shown by our trawlers to territorial rights leaves comparatively 
unmolested. On our own coast similar fish seem to be almost, if 
not entirely, confined to estuaries or inshore grounds, I have paid 
but little attention to the probable ages of these small turbot, since, 
as I have previously remarked, the distribution does vary with the 
size, and cannot be proved to do so with the age of the fish. The 
* Note added in press. Much valuable information as to the life-history of turbot and 
other flat-fish in the Cattegat, &c., will be found in Dr. Petersen’s Report on the Danish 
Biological Station for 1893 (1894). 
