576 HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES. 



Among the Arctic fishes found within the province are 

 Dog-fishes, Rays (Skates) and various members of the 

 Great Cod family. 



Among those common to the Arctic and Mediterranean 

 are Lophins (Anglers) ; Mullets ; Halibut, Turbot and others 

 of the Flounder family, the Pleuroncctidce ; Rock-fish 

 (Labrus maculatus) ; Conger-eels, Pipe-fish (Syngnathus) 

 and the Herring-class (Clupea). These are typical fishes 

 that have spread themselves over this area from those 

 three great provinces. 



Of the fishes that date back to remote geological times 

 we have representatives within the waters of the Outer 

 Hebrides. Among these we have Sharks, Rays, Dog- 

 fishes and Sturgeons. Fossil remains of these fishes are 

 found in rocks of the Lias, in the rocks of the same age 

 as the Sandstones underlying the basalts of the Inner 

 Hebrides. 



The Sharks seen in the Minch are the Blue-Shark (Car- 

 charias Glaticus),\.}\Q Porbeagle (Lamna Cornubica\ the Fox- 

 Thresher (Alopecias), so named from the splashing it makes 

 with its tail while feeding. This shark follows the herring 

 and is quite harmless to man. To the same family belongs 

 the Basking Shark (Selache), which is also quite harmless. 

 On the West Coast of Ireland this fish is chased for the sake 

 of the oil from its liver. An average fish yields from a ton 

 to a ton and a half of oil. The writer saw one landed in 

 Stornoway the liver of which filled eight herring barrels. 

 This was but a poor equivalent for the loss of nearly a 

 whole " drift " of nets which the monster had destroyed on 

 becoming entangled in it. 



The Dog-fish family, like the Sharks, are of an ancient 

 lineage, but that is the utmost which can be said of this 

 most destructive fish. They follow the herring in vast 

 numbers, and are the plague of the fishermen by destroying 

 their nets. They make poor eating as human food. The 

 Larger Dog-fish (Scy Ilium caniculd) and the Spotted Dog- 

 fish (Scyllium catulus) are known by their respective Gaelic 

 names Am B wrack and An Dallag. 



