III. DISTRIBUTION OF FISH AND OTHER ANIMALS 



IN THE IRISH SEA. 



The great variety in the depths and other physical conditions described above, 

 leads to great differences in the fauna or assemblage of animals in the various parts 

 of the Irish Sea, and so provides suitable localities for very different kinds of fishes, 

 and for the different stages of the fishes' life. Rocks and sea-weeds are character- 

 istic of the Welsh and Manx coasts, sand and mud of those of Cheshire and 

 Lancashire. The deep, cold, and relatively salt water round the Isle of Man, is very 

 different from the less salt and sometimes much warmer waters of the shallow flats 

 of Morecambe and Liverpool Bay. Trawling and dredging for scientific purposes has 

 been carried on for some years now, (i) off Liverpool, Blackpool, and other points on the 

 Lancashire Coast, and (2) off Port Erin, and neighbouring places at the Isle of Man, and 

 the contrast in results is most marked. We have before us many records of hauls at both 

 localities, and while Port Erin has very many species not found in Lancashire, the sandy 



bays of the latter show an abundance of 

 individuals belonging to a few species which 

 it would be difficult to match elsewhere in 

 the district, or even possibly in Europe. 

 Foreign naturalists who visit us and see a 

 haul of our fish or shrimp trawl in Liverpool 

 Bay, are generally much impressed by the 

 profusion of specimens belonging to a small 

 number of species a haul numbering tens 

 of thousands of fish alone, is frequently 

 made ; while, when they come to Port Erin, 

 they are equally struck by the profusion and 

 variety of life, the relatively large number of 

 species in one spot, as shown by a haul of 

 FIG. 6. Prawn boat getting the catch on board. ^h e dred'e or small trawl. 



The following statistics of a few characteristic hauls may be of interest. They are 

 not picked hauls, but were the first taken a few years ago (1895,) for the purpose of 

 comparison with some statistics published from other seas. On the first of our expe- 

 ditions from Port Erin, after the appearance of the summary volumes of the "Challenger" 

 Expedition Report, in which examples of large and varied hauls are given, we counted 

 the contents of the first haul of the small trawl. The particulars are as follows : 

 June 23rd, 7 miles W, of Peel, on North Bank, bottom sand shells, depth 21 fathoms, 

 trawl 4 feet beam, down for 20 minutes ; 232 specimens were counted, but there may 

 well have been another 100 ; they belonged to over 112 species, and to 103 genera. 

 The list of these species is here given, and Marine Zoologists will see at a glance 

 that it is nothing out of the way, but is a fairly good assemblage of not uncommon 

 animals, such as is frequently met with when dredging in from 15 to 30 fathoms, on varied 

 ground where a rich fauna is present, 



