THE FLAT-FISH FAMILY 24! 



minute specimens are only to be taken with a shrimp trawl, and 

 that the opportunities for the use of this trawl by naturalists 

 in deep water at some distance from the coast have been very 

 limited. 



For some time specimens of the lemon dab in the third 

 stage, from complete development to sexual maturity, were 

 almost as unknown as those in the developing or second stage. 

 In the course of the extensive trawlings of the Garland with a 

 small-meshed trawl, Dr. Fulton only obtained three specimens 

 2 inches long, and these were taken on the Smith Bank, at a 

 depth of 20 fathoms, in March and May. It may be noted that 

 these specimens must have been hatched in the preceding year, 

 since there had been no spawning the previous autumn and 

 winter. They must have been, therefore, at least six months 

 old, and may have been ten to twelve months. 



Recently, however, immature lemon dabs have been dis- 

 covered in large numbers on inshore grounds. In the beginning 

 of October, 1892, Mr. Holt obtained a few small specimens from 

 the Humber estuary, and subsequently, when trawling from a 

 steam yacht between October ipth and November I7th, he 

 obtained some specimens in almost every haul. The largest 

 number in one haul was sixteen, others yielded eleven or twelve, 

 others not more than seven. The usual size of these was 2| to 

 3^ inches, a few were of larger size up to 8f inches, and one was 

 1 1 inches long. It is impossible to be quite certain as to the 

 age of these fish. The experiments on the growth of the 

 flounder have shown that a fish twelve months old may be no 

 larger than another at six months. The lemon dab, in the 

 neighbourhood of the Humber, begins to spawn at the end of 

 April. Comparison with the flounder shows that fish spawned 

 then might possibly reach a length of 2\ to 3^ inches by the 

 end of October. But it is also possible that these fish were at 

 the beginning of their second year. On the whole with regard 

 to the smallest fish it is more probable that they were derived 

 from the preceding spawning season. 



At the beginning of June, 1894, the author, taking a trip on 

 board a shrimp trawler belonging to Brightlingsea, in Essex, 

 was surprised to find among the small fish captured in the 

 trawl a very large number of young lemon dabs. The ground 

 fished was in the Wallet, the first haul being just outside Colne 



R 



