81 



pound weight. They are, Hke the great majority of food 

 fish eggs, pelagic or fioating on or near to the surface 

 during the period of hatching. The flounder on this coast 

 proceeds to sea to a depth of 17 fathoms or over to spawn. 

 It has been thought by many fishermen that the egg sacs 

 of some of the Polychaete worms that are found on the 

 shore, of bladder, shape and moored by filaments in the 

 sand, are the eggs of the flounder ; and when the embryo 

 worms had attained to the development of the eyes (which 

 are red) causing the whole bladder to appear red instead of 

 green (the colour before development), it was then taken 

 to be plaice spawn because of the plaice having red spots 

 on them. 



Spawning takes place in our district from the beginning of 

 the year to the end of April. The hatching period is not so 

 long as that of the plaice egg, being from 12 days at the 

 beginning of the season, to as little as 6 days at the end, 

 but regulated in a great measure by the temperature of 

 the water. 



Very little is known of the development of the egg until 

 the young fry enter the rivers in June. When they arrive 

 in the rivers they are about three-quarters of an inch in 

 length, perfectly transparent, without any colour, but their 

 eyes are dark blue and iridescent, and one is able to detect 

 them by that. 



They proceed up the rivers, and live in the fresh-water 

 and estuaries until they return to the sea for spawning 

 purposes in November and December. The old fish, after 

 spawning, return to the rivers in the middle of May and 

 during June. They proceed up the rivers for long dis- 

 tances, having been taken at Chtheroe and Whitewell in 

 Bowland, distances of over 30 miles from the sea. 



The flounder is easily distinguished from the plaice or 

 dab by the china- white colour of the nnder-surface, resem- 



