114 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



Flounders 



f 6 2i to 4g inches 



\ 3 9" 



Turbol 1 3k 



Brill 2 3i to4| 



Soles 4 2i to 3^ 



/ 5 34to3| 



■ ••• V 1 6h 



Smelts 



A few Sand-eels, Pipe-fishes, Dragonets, Gobies, and Sticklebacks. 



On September 27, 1S93, with a 21 -foot beam shrimp-trawl, 

 after a haul of i^ hours outside the mouth of the Mersey, with 

 32 quarts of shrimps were taken :— 



1 2 Soles j ,m q£ sniall size, 7000 of the plaice 



10,407 1 laice ! gQ gj^^^jj ^g ^Q j^^gj, through the 



375 ^^^s. r meshes of an ordinary shrimij 



69 Codling ... / 



The older fish are found at somewhat greater depths and 

 distances from shore. As far as our present knowledge goes, it 

 appears that immature fish of the kinds here considered are taken 

 in considerable proportions on all grounds, and therefore at all 

 depths to which the species extend. Mr. Holt estimates that a box 

 of large North Sea plaice contains about 30 per cent, of immature 

 individuals. But the proportion below 13 inches is small, and 

 therefore we may conclude that there are very few one-year- 

 old fish, or fish in their second year, on the off-shore grounds. 

 The ordinary fair-sized fish are thus two years old and upwards. 

 The one-year-old fish are found on the shallower inshore grounds 

 where they are chiefly sought by small vessels which either fish 

 specially for them or take them with shrimps in shrimp trawls. 

 Such fish are chiefly found at depths between two and fifteen 

 fathoms. In certain places where the slope of the ground sea- 

 wards is very gradual the small fish are in great abundance, and 

 the capture of them in very large numbers has drawn attention 

 to these grounds, so that they have been carefully studied. The 

 most widely known instance of this is afforded by the eastern 

 grounds of the North Sea, extending along the Dutch and 

 German coasts from the Texel to the Horn Reef. Examination 

 of these shallow grounds north of Heligoland in 1895, between 

 the depths of seven and thirteen fathoms, showed that the fish 

 taken by the deep-sea trawl on them were as follows. The 

 plaice ranged from 5 inches to 16 inches in length, so that the 

 proportion of mature fish was small. Of course they were not 



