34 FISHES AND FISHERIES OF THE IRISH SEA. 



SPARUS CENTRODONTUS, De la Roche Common Sea-Bream. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. I., p. 36, PI. XIII.) 

 (Fish. Mus., Zool. Dept., Univ. Coll., Liverpool.) Local Name, "Sea-Bream." 



This fish ranges from Scandinavian seas to the Mediterranean, through both the 

 North Sea and the North Atlantic. On the British coasts it is especially abundant 

 on the south and west. It may be caught in our district in the trawl, and is some- 

 times brought into the Liverpool market. "Common near Holyhead " (Eyton) ; taken 

 in the Barrow Channel near Piel, occasionally in Menai straits (White), and abundant 

 in summer outside Port Erin Bay, where it is caught by lines. Frequently taken in 

 and near Morecambe Bay, and on the fishing grounds between Lancashire and the Isle 

 of Man. 



Family SCORP^NID^. 



SEBASTES NORVEGICUS (Ascan.) Norway Haddock. 

 (Day's British Fishes, vol. I, p. 42, PI. XVIII.) 



This is a northern fish, ranging from Greenland and Spitzbergen, down to the 

 British seas, and as far as New York on the other side of the Atlantic. Byerley 

 recorded a specimen as taken in our district in 1851, and there is one in the Liverpool 

 Public Museum, recorded as having been taken in 1871, from 20 miles north west of 

 the Bell buoy (now the Mersey Bar Light Ship.) 



Family COTTID/E. 



COTTUS SCORPIUS, Linn. Short-spined Cottus. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. I. p. 49, PI. XIX.) 



(Fish. Mus., Zool. Dep., Univ. Coll., Liverpool.) Local name, " Bull-head." 



This fish is variously called the sea-scorpion, the father-lasher, the short-spined 

 cottus and the sting-fish, but that latter designation is much better kept for the true 

 sting-fishes belonging to the genus Trachinus. It is a northern form, extending from 

 the Arctic regions down to British seas, and, like some other northern species, attains 

 to a very much larger size in the colder waters. On the coast of Greenland it is said 

 to reach a length of 6 feet, while in our seas the usual size is about as many inches. 

 It is found in the North Sea and the Baltic and all around the British Isles. In our 

 district it is taken commonly in shrimp trawls in shallow water, and is sometimes 

 found in shore-pools, where it lays its eggs in spring. It is common at Port Erin and 

 elsewhere in the Isle of Man ; also about Piel in the Barrow Channel, and in the 

 Menai Straits and round Anglesey. 



COTTUS BUBALIS, Euphr. Long-spined Cottus. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. I., p. 51, PI. XX.) 

 (Fish. Mus., Zool. Dep., Univ. Coll., Liverpool.) Local name, " Bull-head.' 



This fish, like the last, is also sometimes known locally as the "father-lasher." 

 It ranges in distribution from the Arctic regions to the coasts of Spain, and is found all 

 round the British coasts. In our district it is caught occasionally in the Dee (A. O t 



