3IO MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



I also once found a hermit crab with its companion anemone 

 on its shell, zoophytes and sea -weed {Ulva). 



B^'eeding and Spaivn. — The particulars of the proportions of 

 the sexes and of the spawning period of this fish have not been 

 examined. Raffaele found at Naples that the eggs of Pagcllus 

 erytJirimis, a species closely allied to the common bream and also 

 occurring on the south coast of England, were of the buoyant 

 kind, and that two other species of the family had eggs of this 

 kind. These buoyant eggs floated separately, and were of the 

 t}'pc with a simple undivided yolk and a single large oil globule. 

 There can be little doubt, if any, that the eggs of the common 

 bream are of the same kind. 



It seems as if it would not be difficult to trace out the growth 

 of these fish at Plymouth with some certainty, as individuals of 

 particular sizes occur in numbers at certain times of the year. 

 But this has not yet been done. All that I can say is the follow- 

 ing. The young, known as " chad " and about 6 or 7 inches 

 long, are abundant at the mouth of Plymouth Sound in August 

 and September, and these are probably just over a year old, and 

 immature. I found fish of a younger stage, only about 2 or 3 

 inches long, in the produce of sprat seines in the Hamoaze in 

 September, and think that these were hatched the same year, 

 their age being something less than six months. 



Like most southern fish on the English coasts bream are 

 seldom taken in winter, retiring at that season to a greater 

 distance from land or to more southern regions. 



