Anchovy Migration; Weevers. 105 



\Vo have no evidence of the anchovy breeding within 

 our District, but on the Dutch coast there is an important 

 summer fishery,* and there they spawn freely. According to 

 Cunningham's data, the anchovy heads up channel in spring, 

 whence it wends its way to the Schelde and Zuyder Zee ; 

 there they spend summer, spawn, and return down the English 

 Channel during autumn and winter. In passing to and fro the 

 Straits of Dover, at times they come close to the Kent shore, 

 and on such occasions are caught by the spratters and other 

 fishermen. Wherefore comes it the anchovy prefers the coast 

 of Holland to our estuarine flats and creeks, which are a 

 counterpart ? Cunningham f believes it to be a matter of 

 warmer temperature. The two preceding southern fish there- 

 fore illustrate how that physical conditions play an important 

 part in their distribution and migration. 



The Weever Family (Trachinida?), whereof the two forms, 

 viz., The GREATER WEEVER (Tracliinus draco} and (2) the 

 LESSKR WEEVER (T. vipera), are notoriously dreaded by white- 

 baiters and shrimpers for their stinging propensities. Most 

 fishermen only know them as of one sort, be they big or small. 

 Both species are widely scattered around Kent and Essex. 

 They mainly keep to sandy ground, irrespective of depth of 

 water, and are greedy feeders on whitebait and shrimps, 

 hence are numerous at the mouth of the Thames. They are, 

 however, not restricted to the many sands below the Nore, for 

 they regularly haunt the neighbourhood of the West River 

 middle buoy, and shores opposite (particularly Essex side), to 

 whitebaiters' peril. If by chance a weever is seen in a haul 

 or in culling, it is instantly crunched under boot, and thrown 

 away. As a rule, they are captured in the nets ; but Mr. 

 Fitch has noted an instance of a 10-inch T. draco taken with 

 logworm bait while spruling in the Blackwater, Oct., 1889 

 (Essex Nat. III.). Kent coast anglers occasionally land them 



* Beaujon, Hist, of Dutch Sea Fisheries, Loud., 1884. 

 "Immigration of the Anchovy," Jour. Mar. IJiol. Assoc., III., N. Ser. (1893-06). 



