MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



and worms were of nearly equal importance, 29 per cent, of the 

 stomachs containing the former, 23 per cent, the latter. Fish 

 remains were found only in 5 per cent. Of the crustaceans 

 taken the most numerous were common shrimps, and next in 

 frequency were hermit-crabs, swimming crabs, and sand-hoppers. 

 Among the molluscs, common bivalves and the razor shell were 

 most abundant ; the whelk and other univalves, octopus and a 

 kind of small cuttle-fish also occurred. Of the marine worms the 

 sea-mouse (^Aphrodite) was the most numerous. 



On the west coast of Ireland echinoderms occurred most 

 frequently in haddocks' stomachs, crustaceans next, worms next, 

 and molluscs last. 



The females are nearly twice as numerous as the males, the 

 proportion being 188 to 100, but the males are slighth' larger, in 

 the proportion of 100 to 98. The haddock, like the cod, spawns 

 on the east coast of Scotland in Februar)-, March, and April. 

 The spawning fish are found from five miles off the coast upwards, 

 and at depths of 20 fathoms and upwards. On the west coast 

 of Ireland ripe fish were taken at 38 fathoms, 44 fathoms, 

 80 fathoms, and 154 fathoms, but the mature fish approach 

 nearer the coast in the spawning season. 



The eggs closely resemble those of the cod, the only differ- 

 ence being that they are larger, r45 to v^ mm. in diameter 

 (tw inch) ; they are thus somewhat smaller than tho.se of the 

 plaice. 



The larva when first hatched is a little larger than that of 

 the cod, which it closely resembles. As in the cod only black 

 pigment is visible, and the haddock larva can be distinguished 

 by the fact that the pigment does not form bars across the body, 

 but is confined in the tail to the ventral edge ; it is absent from 

 the fin -membrane and from the )'olk-sac. 



No careful study of the later larval stages of the haddock 

 has been made. Professor Sars mentions that he could dis- 

 tinguish the little haddock by their shorter and stouter form, 

 and they have been found at a length of 2| inches, lurking under 

 large jelly-fishes like the cod. In Dr. Fulton's fine-meshed 

 trawl seven specimens, i inch long or less, were taken in one 

 haul in the Moray Firth in July, fifteen miles from the shore at a 

 depth of 30 fathoms, 339 specimens 2 to 5 inches long were 

 taken, the great majorit}' at depths between 20 and 30 fathoms, 



