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14 



SEA FISH HATCHING AT PIEL. 

 By Andrew Scott. 



Our attention, as in former years, during the fish, 

 spawning period, was devoted to the incubation of the 

 eggs of plaice and flounders, and the results for 1905 

 are practically the same as those obtained in 1904. The 

 adult plaice were brought from Luce }3ay by the fisheries 

 steamer, and the flounders from the River Lune by the 

 police cutter belonging to the Northern portion of the 

 District. 



The plaice commenced to spawn on March 2nd, and 

 the flounders on the following day. The first fertilised 

 eggs were obtained on March 10th and the last on May 

 5th. During the two months that the spawning lasted, 

 about thirteen and a half millions of flounder eggs were 

 collected and about one and a half millions of plaice eggs. 

 The eggs were incubated in the usual way and yielded a 

 little over thirteen millions of fry. The fry were set free 

 in Morecambe Bay by Captain Wright. At the end of 

 the spawning season the parent fish were liberated in the 

 Jiarrow Channel. About a dozen of the largest and most 

 vigorous plaice were retained for one of Mr. Johnstone's 

 marking experiments. These were marked and set free 

 on May 31st, when the steamer was employed in cariying 

 on some investigations on the off-shore fishing grounds. 

 The following tables give the number of eggs collected, 

 and of the ii y liutchetl and set free un the dates specified ; 



