64 Part I11.—Twenty-first Annual Report 
Great Fisher Bank, one in Aberdeen Bay, two in Thurso Bay, one in 
the Dog Hole off Aberdeen, and 167 in the Moray Firth. The facts 
concerning this uncouth and odd form are of some interest. With cer- 
tain exceptions referred to below, usually only one or two or a few were 
taken in the same haul; it is thus evidently widely dispersed and 
scattered. The one taken in Aberdeen Bay was caught on 6th June in 
from five to sixteen fathoms, and it was marketable. The specimen pro- 
cured at the Dog Hole, ten miles from Aberdeen, was got in fifty-eight 
fathoms on 21st August, and it was marketable. Another large 
specimen was obtained in the deep water—eighty-five fathoms—about 
eight miles from Kinnaird Head on 4th July. 
On the Fisher Bank in thirty-four fathoms at the end of May and 
the beginning of June they were comparatively abundant, thirty-two 
specimens being taken in twelve hauls; three hauls were blank, but in 
the others cat-fish were obtained in numbers ranging from one to six, 
and they were all large. They were much commoner here than in the 
deeper water further north-west, off the coast of Aberdeen, immediately 
afterwards, where fourteen hauls in from sixty-four to eighty-one 
fathoms furnished only four. The bottom, however, was for the most 
part muddy. South-east and east of Sumburgh Head in the latter part 
of May they were numerous, fourteen hauls yielding fifty-six, of which 
all were marketable but three; the depth varied from fifty-eight to 
seventy-six fathoms, and twelve, eight, four, eight, and nine cat-fishes 
were taken in successive hauls. In September two were taken in 
nearly the same locality in four hauls. In October off Fair Isle, in. 
sixty-five fathoms, eleven were taken, one of which was too small to be 
marketable ; and in May in sixty-five fathoms, east of the Shetlands, 
twenty-three were taken, thirteen in one haul. 
The particulars regarding the occurrence of the cat-fish in the Moray 
Firth are of interest. In the numerous hauls in the months of Septem- 
ber, October, and November, comprising over 200 hours’ actual trawling 
at various places and different depths, not a single cat-fish was taken. 
In August one was caught in Burghead Bay, in five to twenty-five 
fathoms; in July three, two in from seven to twelve fathoms in the place 
named, and one in eighty-five fathoms off Kinnaird Head ; in June two, 
one in from five to fourteen fathoms in Burghead Bay, and one on Smith 
Bank in twenty-five fathoms. In summer and autumn, therefore, the 
cat-fish appears to be rare in the Moray Firth. In December, however, 
eighteen were taken; in January, with many fewer hauls, seven; in 
February ten, in March fifty-three, and in May seventy-five. Many of 
these were taken in comparatively shallow water, as in Dornoch Firth. 
There thus appears to be a migration of the large cat:-fishes from the 
deeper water shorewards in winter and spring for spawning. The 
ovaries were not examined in these instances, little time having been 
available, but in April they were found to be spent, some of them 
having a few large ripe eggs which had failed to be expelled. 
The number of unmarketable cat-fishes taken was smal]— and those of 
fourteen or fifteen inches fall into this category-—being only seven. 
Very much smaller specimens would be retained by the otter-trawl net, 
and the explanation of their absence is no doubt the same as in so many 
other instances, viz. their absence from the bottoms where the trawl 
can work. 
The most disadvantageous attribute of a fish in the sea is diminu- 
tiveness; the smaller it is the more it is liable to be swallowed 
by others; as it increases in size the number of its possible enemies 
diminishes and its chance of survival is greater. Security may be 
sought in some cases by a pelagic habit, but in many instances it is ob- 
tained by frequenting rocky bottoms covered with alge, and on these 
