PACIFIC HALIBUT FISHERIES 5 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 38a 



There was some doubt as to their identification, inasmuch as another deep-sea flatfish, 

 having the same number of fin-rays in the median fins as the halibut, also occurs in the 

 Moray Firth, this is the pole dab or pole flounder Pleuronecies (Glyptoceplialus) cyno- 

 glossus. The large mouth and depression above the snout led to the conclusion that 

 they belonged to the halibut species. These two Moray Firth specimens were 12 and 14 

 mm. long; they were described, with a figure, by Dr. H. M. Kyle [Notes and Memoranda. 

 Halibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris Flem.) or Pole-Dab (Pleuronecies cynoglossus Linn.). 

 Journ. Mar. Biol. Ass. Plymouth, vi, Dec, 1903, pp. 618-621, pi. ii, f. 2.]. The meta- 

 morphosis had hardly begun, the left eye not having commenced its migration; eighteen 

 fin-rays had appeared in the caudal fin, but in the marginal fins the rays could only be 

 detected after being cleared in xylol and mounted in balsam. The spawning seasons 

 of halibut and pole dab overlap in the North Atlantic ; but whereas the ripe egg of the 

 halibut measures 3.0 to 4.0 mm. in diameter, that of the pole dab varies between 1.15 

 and 1.70 mm. The examination of ripe females in British and Icelandic waters has 

 led to the conclusion that the European halibut is a summer-spawning fish (April to 

 August) . 



Under the provisional assumption that the eggs of the halibut may prove to be 

 bathypelagic, i.e. adrift in deep water, it may be useful to quote the case of Argentina 

 as affording the first example of a bathypelagic egg to be made known. Argentina is 

 a genus of deep-sea salmonoid fishes belonging to the smelt family, the eggs and fry 

 of which were taken by the Danish steamer Thor in deep water in the Atlantic and in 

 the Skager Eak during the years 1903-6. They were described by Dr. Jobs. Schmidt 

 (On the larval and post-larval development of the Argentines. Meddelelser fra 

 Kommissionen for Havsundersogelser. Fiskeri Bd. II, No. 4 Copenhagen, 1906). The 

 eggs of Argentina silus occur in large quantities floating in water-layers far from the 

 surface over great depth. These pelagic eggs are of large size, 3 to 3.5 mm. in 

 diameter, resembling Mursenoid eggs, from which they differ in lacking a large 

 perivitelline space. The yolk, like that of Clupeoids and Muraenoids, is not homo- 

 geneous but is segmented, i.e. it shows a vesicular structure, composed of numerous 

 small cell-like spheres; it contains a large plano-convex oil-globule, with major diameter 

 of 1.0 mm. Eggs were taken in the young fish trawl on June 24, 1906, with 800 metres 

 of wire-rope out, over a total depth of 910 metres. The larvae hatched out on board and 

 were preserved the same day; their average length was 7.7 mm. The youngest larva 

 taken in the sea with the young-fish trawl measured about 10^ mm. One of 28 mm. was 

 taken on July 25, 1905, with 500 metres of wire out, over a depth of 512 metres; 

 another of 50 mm. was taken on September 1, 1905, in the young-fish trawl with 75 

 metres of wire out, over an average depth of 1000 metres. 



The striking coincidence in point of size between the pelagic eggs of Argentina 

 and the ripe eggs of the halibut seems to give further ground for the presumption thjit 

 the latter may be found to be bathypelagic. The proving of this detail will spell a 

 notable advance in the knowledge of the life-history of the halibut, and will justify 

 a great deal of trouble.* 



PART II. NARRATIVE. 



In pursuance of the inquiry, which lasted from May to September, I made trips 

 round the Queen Charlotte islands, to the west coast of Vancouver island, to Victoria, 

 and to the gulf of Alaska. I was thus able to see somethino- of four methods of 

 halibut fishing, namely, by canoes, by small gasolene launches, by dories from gasolene 

 schooners, and line-hauling by steamers. 



Soon after my arrival at the Biological Station, Departure bay, I called on 

 Mr. W. Hamar Greenwood, managing director of the Skeena River Fisheries, 

 Limited, at Vancouver, to whom I had been recommended by Prof. A, B. Macallum. 

 Mr. Greenwood at once gave me permission to accompany one of the company's 



* Since the above was written I have received by the courtesy of the author Dr. Johs. 

 Scmidt's paper on the post-larval halibut collected by the Danish steamer Thor published in 

 the Danish Fishery Reports, 1904. 



