REPORT ON THE PROBABLE AGES OF YOUNG FISH. 



355 



two, of wliich thirty-five were taken in the shrimp trawl at some dis- 

 tance from shore, and twenty-seven in the shove-net in less than one 

 fathom of water. But the smallest taken in the shrimp trawl is 5 

 inches long, and some of the specimens between 5 and 8 inclies may 

 be in their third year. We can scarcely suppose that these small 

 numbers represent more than a small portion of the previous year's 

 produce, so that one-year-old soles would seem to be by no means 

 exclusively found in shallow waters near shore. 



The young soles derived from the year's spawning might be ex- 

 pected to appear from June onwards, and to be at first from ^ inch 

 to 1^ inches in length, later reaching 2 inches. But although plaice 

 of about this size were taken in June, July, and September, no such 

 soles appear. At Mevagissey I have found soles less than 1 inch 

 long in May in small numbers in tide pools, so that it is certain 

 they do occasionally come to the store. Provisionally I infer from 

 these facts that the soles of the year are widely distributed over the 

 North Sea, and do not, like the plaice, collect together in the shallow 

 waters near the shore. 



There is no definite gap or interval between tbe series of sizes 

 of the soles caugbt by the shrimp trawl in the Humber, and the 

 series of those caught by the deep-sea trawl, and procured in Grimsby 

 Market. The minimum size of the deep-sea specimens is larger, 

 namely 8 inclies, but soles of 8 to 12 inches and upwards are ob- 

 tained both in the estuary and out at sea, both in the shrimp trawl 

 and the great trawl. I have attempted to indicate tbe probable 

 age of these specimens, taking 12 inches as about the maximum 

 length, at two years of age ; but, as I have before pointed out, the 

 growth of fish is so variable in different individuals, that it is not 

 possible to distinguish by size alone two-year-old specimens from 

 those which are three years old or more. 



Rhombus Isevis, the Brill. 



