108 



EATE OF GEOWTH OF SOME SEA FISHES 



while the adults occur principally beyond the 30 fathoms line. The 

 adult condition and sexual maturity is not reached till the end of the 

 second year, 



Gadus merlangus, the Whiting. 



The second entry shows that the young whiting, from eggs 

 spawned the previous spring, occur not only in shallow bays close to 

 the bottom^ but also at some distance from land in mid-water. The 

 whiting at Plymouth spawns in February and March. I think there 

 can be no doubt that these whiting were under six months old, and 

 were hatched in the previous March, and that they were not in their 

 second year. Dr. Fulton describes the occurrence of a great shoal 

 of young whitings, from 2 to 5 inches in length, in September ; these 

 young fish were so numerous that over 3000 were taken at a single 

 haul of an 18 foot beam-trawl. Dr. Fulton seems unable to account 

 for the origin of this shoal, apparently rejecting the obvious idea 

 that the fish comprising it were hatched the previous spring. He 

 says the whiting spawns in March, April, May, and June, and that 

 a pelagic specimen, 1 inch long, has been captured by the tow-net 

 in September, by Prof. Mcintosh. Now, according to my own 

 experience, the whiting spawns in the Firth of Forth and neighbour- 

 ing sea, principally in April, and young fish hatched in April cannot 

 be only 1 inch long in September, when five months old. I think 

 the vai'ious observations I have here brought together with regard 

 to other species show, conclusively, that the whiting mentioned by 

 Dr. Fulton, from 2 to 5 inches in length in September, were hatched 

 in the preceding April and May. 



