THE FISHES OF THE IRISH SEA. 33 



Family PERCID.E. 



LABRAX LUPUS (Lac.) The Bass. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. I., p. 8, PI. II.) 



(Fish. Mus., Zool. Dep., Univ. Coll., Liverpool.) Local Name, "Sea-Perch." 

 This active fish ranges from Norway to the Mediterranean, and is usually found in 

 shoals. In Britain it is commonest on the southern coasts. In our district it has been 

 recorded from " the Dee and round the neighbouring coast " (Byerley), off Formby, and othea 

 places along the Lancashire coast. It is common at times along the coast of North Wales, 

 and in the Menai Straits, where it is known as "Sea-perch," and it is also taken in the 

 Barrow Channel in summer on long lines baited with Tealia. 



The Bass appears to spend the winter in the deep sea, and comes to the coast in 

 summer, generally May, June, and July. In our district the Bass appears about July, 

 and is almost entirely taken by lines, except occasionally and accidentally in salmon nets, 

 weirs, and even in trawls, in shallow water. 



Bass are sometimes taken in large quantities in Barrow Channel with draft nets, 

 in Morecambe Bay, and also in the Menai Straits, at Holyhead, and elsewhere round 

 the coast of Anglesey. They disappear about September, and go off again to the deep water. 



SERRANUS CABRILLA (Linn.)- -The Gaper. 

 (Day's British Fishes, vol. I., p. 14, PI. IV.) 



This species ranges from the south and west of England to the Mediterranean. 

 It is also found at Madeira and round the Cape of Good Hope. 



It is recorded by Eyton* "several taken by lines in a small rocky bay between 

 Rhoscolyn and Holyhead," but our district must be about the extreme northern limit 

 of its distribution. It breeds in the end of summer. 



Family MULLID^E. 



MULLUS BARBATUS, var. sURMULKTi's, Linn. Red Mullet. 

 (Day's British Fishes, vol. I., p. 22, PI. VIII. , Fig. 2.) 



This variety, the only mullet recorded from our waters, is the "surmullet," 

 or striped red mullet. It ranges from Scandinavian seas to the Mediterranean, and is 

 also found at the Canary Islands. In British seas it is most abundant on the south and 

 west. The only records in our district are from Eyton, who says he once saw an 

 enormous shoal of this fish in the harbour at Holyhead, numbers of which were taken 

 in the nets ; and from Prof. White, of Bangor, who tells us that he has two small 

 ones, taken in the Menai Straits, in August. We cannot hear of any others cases of 

 red mullet having been taken in our neighbourhood in recent years, 



Family 

 CANTHARUS LINEATUS (Montagu) Black Sea-Bream. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. L, p. 26, PI. IX.) 



The black sea-bream, or "old wife," extends from the south of Norway to the 

 Mediterranean, and is also found at the Canary Islands. In British seas it is apparently 

 confined to the south and west, and is fairly common along the west coast of England. 



* Fauna of Shropshire and North Wales Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., see vol. in, p. 25. 



