of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 67 
Sprat (Clupea sprattus). 
Sprats were occasionally taken in the otter-trawl and not unfrequently 
in the small-meshed net—sometimes many hundreds of them. They 
occurred in the otter-net on the following occasions—viz., in June and 
July in the Dornoch Firth and Aberdeen Bay, in the Dornoch Firth in 
December, and at the Dog Hole off Aberdeen and off Dunbeath in 
December, as shown in the following Table :— 
Date, Place. epee No, 
6 June, - - | Aberdeen Bay, - - S : - 44-16 2 
2 July, . - | Dornoch Firth, - - - - - 10 1 
3 0 10-12 23 
OP of, 7 5A 2 
3, » » 64-12 3 
5 ,, -  - | Aberdeen Bay, : = - : = 8-15 1 
19 December, - | Dornoch Firth, - - - - - 9-10 3 
15 January, - | Dog Hole, off Aberdeen, - - - =| ay 1 
17 Fs - | Off Dunbeath, - - - - - - 24 1 
Sprats were never taken in either the otter-net or the fine net on the 
offshore grounds, but a few were obtained in hauls at the Dog Hole in 
deep water—viz., on 28th November fourteen, measuring from 87-— 
125 mm. (33-413 inches)—on this occasion three anchovies were also 
caught,—and on 15th January, when other fourteen were taken. None 
were taken at the Dog Hole in June, July, August, or December. In 
Aberdeen Bay sprats were captured in January, June, September, 
October, November, and December, in hauls made in from five to 
eighteen fathoms. At Lunan Bay, Montrose, eighty were taken on 
28th June in a drag of sixteen minutes, along with 1916 herrings, the 
depth being about twelve-and-a-half fathoms. In the Dornoch Firth 
two were taken in July in ten to twelve fathoms, and 185 in December ; 
at Burghead Bay in December, in the Firth of Forth in May, and in 
the Cromarty Firth in January and June. The haul on Ist June in the 
Cromarty Firth was of interest, because it was found that the larger 
sprats, of which 552 were taken, ranging from 73 to 124 mm. (21 to 
47 inches) were spawning. Females from 104 mm. upwards were ripe, 
and males from the same size; but some may have been mature under 
the length given. The temperature of the bottom was 55° F., and of 
the surface water 54°:7. The small-meshed net also contained seventy 
young herrings ranging from 104 to 197 mm., seventy-seven small 
whitings from 132-195 mm., which were feeding on the young sprats 
and herrings; three codlings from 143 to 152 mm., similarly engaged ; 
and a fifteen-spined stickleback, 153 mm. in length, from which the 
ripe eggs were extruding. 
[| TaBLeE. 
