Il8 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



Some ground fishes come nearer the coast to spawn while 

 others go further off. Cod arc among the former ; they spawn 

 in March and April, and the adults when feeding are for the 

 most part on deeper and more distant grounds at other seasons 

 of the year. Haddock and whiting do not make any obvious 

 migration at the spawning season ; the haddock is found in 

 spawning condition from 30 to 150 fathoms, the whiting from 10 

 to 40. With regard to the shallow water flat-fishes, we have 

 seen that mature soles, turbot, and brill are found in summer 

 time in quite shallow water near the coast with the immature. 

 Soles betake themselves to deeper water in winter, and the same 

 thing has been observed of turbot and brill, but the larger adult 

 plaice remain always for the most part in the deeper water. 



Food and Habits. — Among quadrupeds and birds there are 

 some which live entirely on a vegetarian diet, and others which 

 take their vegetable nourishment at second hand by preying upon 

 the herbivorous species. Among fishes there are very few kinds 

 which take any vegetable food at all. There is however an in- 

 teresting distinction between those which prey upon other fishes 

 and those which feed upon the lower orders of marine creatures. 

 But the division is by no means complete ; there are some fishes 

 which feed only upon other fishes, and some which do not devour 

 other fishes at all, but there are many which habitually take a 

 mixed diet, including both fish and lower animals. Some of the 

 fishes which prey upon the other fishes, if not all, take cuttle-fishes 

 or squid when they can get them. The angler lives entirely upon 

 fish ; the ling, almost entirely ; the conger, almost entirely ; hake 

 and pollock very rarely eat anything else ; whiting, largely ; the 

 cod, largely ; the coal fish, largely ; the dory, entirely ; the 

 turbot, brill, and megrim, almost entirely. Other species in whose 

 stomachs other fish are found are the gurnards, the haddock, 

 long rough dab, and also lemon dab, sole, plaice, and common 

 dab. Among the dog-fishes and rays the picked or spiny dog- 

 fish lives entirely on fish, and the other kinds take fish to some 

 extent, except the small spotted dog-fish and the thornback. 

 The mackerel and the shads also prey upon smaller fishes. The 

 habits and modes of obtaining their food are as varied among 

 these predaceous forms as the habits of their victims to which 

 they are adapted. It is necessary, therefore, to consider the 

 habits of the victims first. 



