68 Pout and Poor-Cod. 



season. At the latter port, when skinned, trimmed down, tail 

 twisted round and poked into the eyes, the converted pouters 

 are passed off as genuine silver whiting (Buckland). It is got 

 pretty much everywhere in the Thames Estuary, probably most 

 frequently about the South or Knob Channel, thence to the 

 Margate Sands, &c. Above the Nore it is scarcer, though 

 occasionally it turns up within Sea Reach. It appears to be 

 most numerous in summer, but we have notes of its occurrence 

 in January, May, September, October, November and December, 

 so that it may be regarded as less or more with us all the year 

 round.* 



The light paternoster and Kentish-rig chopstick are the 

 approved tackle for its capture on the Kent shores, bat in the 

 Thames it is only by chance brought up in the shrimp and 

 fish-trawl. In the latter quarter those caught are not always 

 brought ashore, for they are not prized, yet they eat excellently. 

 The old whiting pouts seem rather to frequent rocky ground ; 

 our estuarine examples are seldom full-grown. Specimens 

 usually run from 2 to 3 up to 7 inches, the average being 4| to 

 5 inches. The largest we know of measured 10 inches, ob- 

 tained in mid-December. Our information with regard to their 

 migration, spawning-ground and rate of growth is indefinite. 

 We are more certain as to the nature of their food, having 

 examined many and at different seasons of the year. Shrimps 

 were preponderant, occasionally Mysidoe, then rag- worms, the 

 fleshy parts of crab's claws and legs, and now and again small 

 fish of various species ; betimes in May an odd, small octopus. 



(5) The POOR COD (Gadus minutus). This diminutive 

 member of the Cod family, so far as we know, has not hitherto 

 been recorded from our district. Yet inasmuch as the Thames 

 Estuary is concerned, it is not altogether at times a rare fish. 

 Its distribution, is pretty much the same as the whiting and the 

 pout ; indeed, it is usually got with them in the trawl-net It 



* Exti emely abundant in the Blackwater May and June, 1S98. Mr. F. O. Rush and 

 three friends hooked 864 in one night tide on 9th June, 1900 (Fitch). 



