170 BRITISH FISHERIES 



waters inshore. On almost any sandy beach on 

 the north-west coast of England immense numbers 

 of these little plaice, no bigger than one's finger- 

 nail, may be picked up in the shallow pools left 

 by the receding tide. But these may only be 

 seen for a few weeks in May or June, and then 

 they disappear. If we now fish in water from one 

 to several fathoms deep with a fine-meshed trawl- 

 net, we may get very large numbers of plaice about 

 an inch long, and these belong to the same brood 

 as the fish which were being stranded on the beach 

 a month or two earlier. Then, still later in the 

 year, we may find the fish a little bigger and a 

 little further out at sea. As it grows, 1 the plaice 

 gradually moves out into deeper water. Finally, 

 when it has reached the size of maturity ( 1 3 

 to 17 inches long), it has come to inhabit the 

 deep water of fifteen or more fathoms, some 

 considerable distance from shore. The inshore 

 migration, be it remembered, from the spawning 

 grounds to the " nursery " is a purely passive 

 one, and depends on the natural movements of 

 the sea-water. The offshore migration, on the 

 other hand, is an active one, and depends on the 

 inherited instincts of the fish. I am speaking here 

 of the plaice, and such other flat fishes as resemble 

 it in habits. It must be understood that these 

 migrations of the eggs, larvae, and growing young 



1 It only grows during part of the year. Growth practically 

 ceases between the months of October and March. 



