MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



According to Mclntosh and Prince the young \vhiting taken 

 in St. Andrew's Bay can be recognised from the length of 

 15 mm. (f inch) upwards ; they are distinguished from young 

 cod by the more abundant pigment and the much greater 

 extent of the first ventral fin, already formed at that si7.e. 

 At lengths from i to ii inches, a small but distinct barbel 

 is present, although it is absent in the adult whiting : it is 

 much shorter than in cod of the same length, and disappears at 

 a length of about 3 or 4 inches. 



The young whiting of the year are found in great abundance 

 close to the shore, and in bays and estuaries. In fact they arc 

 like the plaice in this respect, and get in the way of shrimp nets 

 and inshore fishing everywhere in hundreds and thousands. In 

 the course of Dr. Fulton's special search for small fish with a 

 fine-meshed trawl, whiting were far the most abundant of the 

 young fish captured ; over 26,000 were taken as compared with 

 only about 1,000 young plaice. The region of the young 

 whiting, however, is rather farther from the shore and in greater 

 depth of water than that of the young plaice. In Dr. Fulton's 

 investigation in 1889, an immense shoal of young whiting were 

 found in the Firth of Forth, extending from Inchkeith to some 

 eight miles east of the Isle of May, over 3,000 specimens being 

 sometimes taken in one haul of the trawl. Nearly all these 

 fish were from 2 to 5 inches in length, in September, and must 

 have been four to six months old. At the mouth of the 

 Humbcr, at the beginning of September, 254 whiting 2f to 5 

 inches long were taken in the shrimp trawl. In the shrimp 

 fishing of the Lancashire coast also large numbers of young 

 whiting are taken, the largest hauls in July and August. At 

 Plymouth, although full-grown whiting are very abundant, I 

 have not ascertained where the young of the year are most 

 plentiful : I have taken them in the trawl in Whitsand Bay at 

 3 to 5 fathoms, and in a mid water net just outside the Eddy- 

 stone : these were specimens 2 to 3^ inches long taken in June 

 and July. 



It is not surprising that young whiting should be taken by 

 shrimpers, since they are engaged largely in feeding on the 

 shrimps and other small Crustacea. In Lancashire Pro! 

 Herdman found in 116 cases of recognisable food among whit- 

 ing 3 inches long and upwards, that Crustacea occurred in 7 



