FISHES 



The Essex coast is a very favourable one for those species of fish 

 whose habitat is mainly confined to a shallow sea with a bottom of sand 

 or mud, but to those requiring deeper waters and rocks these conditions 

 are not the most suitable, as there is no hard rock in the county or in the 

 adjoining seas, and these rock loving species are therefore to a great 

 extent absent from our fauna, and when found are usually stragglers 

 from the rocky districts of the more northern counties. Nevertheless 

 the list of Essex fish, incomplete as it must be from causes to be referred 

 to further on, is a comparatively large one in consequence of the shallow 

 estuaries, creeks and channels forming such excellent feeding grounds 

 and nurseries. Considerable difficulties occur to any one endeavouring 

 to compile a list of the fish of a county unless there are some records 

 to refer to, for it is impossible for any single observer to be thoroughly 

 acquainted with all the captures which have occurred in every part of 

 such an extensive coast line as that of Essex. Many species will certainly 

 be omitted, and but little help can be obtained in increasing the list from 

 those fishermen who pursue this calling for a living, as they pay attention 

 only to those species which are marketable, and even amongst these they 

 lump together several under some local name, probably used elsewhere 

 to designate an entirely different species or genus. This difficulty is 

 however not confined to Essex, it is common to the whole coast of the 

 kingdom and is a great drawback to the value of lists in which the 

 captures are described and recorded under their local designations. It 

 might have been expected that in at least one of our numerous fishing 

 villages there would have been found some educated and intelligent 

 observer who would interest himself to discover and record the dif- 

 ferent species of fish caught and to ascertain the nature of the food on 

 which the marketable fish thrive. Unfortunately however this branch 

 of natural history appears to have been entirely neglected in all our 

 districts, with the result that records of captures in the natural history 

 journals are very scanty. Residents in the county who have been 

 interested in natural history have given their attention to other branches 

 to the utter neglect of this one, which is perhaps the most important of 

 all in so far as the well being of the population is concerned. Cause 

 for complaint may possibly soon be removed, for a competent naturalist 

 has lately interested himself in the fisheries of the Thames estuary, 

 so that it may be hoped that our list will be considerably added to in 

 the future. It has unfortunately not been possible to get any list from 

 him up to the present. The writer of this article has therefore laboured 



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