NORTH SEA FISHERIES 31 



growth and decay transform the inorganic 

 soil into life. To the algae, larvae, and 

 eggs of fish, both large and minute, in fact 

 to all the misroscopic living substances, 

 both vegetable and animal, which are 

 brought into life by these causes, we give 

 the name Plankton; and all fish, large 

 or small, are nourished directly or in- 

 directly by plankton. 



It is of interest to understand how the 

 countless millions of the oceans exist, and 

 on what food they live. It must be appar- 

 ent to all that fish cannot find subsistence 

 on pure water, the water must contain 

 nutritive food of some sort. It is a com- 

 mon belief among fishermen that fish live 

 entirely on one another, and there the 

 matter ends. This is not possible. If this 

 were so it would not take long for the 

 fish to consume themselves, and in a few 

 weeks at most they would become extinct. 

 There must be a basal supply of food : this 

 base is called Plankton. The fauna of the 

 ocean can be divided into two sections, 

 those forms which are self-propelling and 

 are in an advanced form of life, such as 

 all well known fish ; this group is called 



