330 MARKETABLE I'.RITISH .MARINE FISHES 



were next in order of frequency, and were usually sand-eels or 

 sprats, though dabs and other flat-fishes were occasionally found. 

 In the piper, besides crustaceans and fish, sand-stars were also 

 found, and molluscs were occasional!}' present in both piper and 

 tub. 



Breeding. — In the grey gurnard. Dr. Fulton found there were 

 409 females to 100 males, while the females were very slightl)- 

 larger than the males, the proportion in length being as 108 to 

 TOO. The number of eggs in the ovaries at one time was found 

 by computation to be from 192,000 in a specimen \2\ inches 

 long, to 297,000 in a specimen 13I inches. 



In accordance with the superiority of the females in number 

 the spawning period is prolonged. In the Irish Survey ripe 

 female grey gurnard were observed in March, April, May, June, 

 and July. On the east coast of Scotland they have been observed 

 from April to August. I found both the red and the grey kind 

 spawning off Plymouth in April and May. 



There is no evidence at present of the preference by gurnards 

 of particular grounds for spawning. They spawn at various 

 depths and distances from shore, in Scotland according to Ful- 

 ton, both in territorial and extra-territorial waters. The least 

 depth at which ripe females were taken, on the west coast of 

 Ireland was in the case of the red gurnard 13 fathoms, in the 

 case of the grey about 10 fathoms. 



The Eggs and their Development. — The eggs of the red and 

 grey gurnards have been studied ; those of the tub and piper 

 and the rest have not yet been examined. The eggs have been 

 obtained by artificial fertilisation, and also by tow-nets from the 

 sea. They have been hatched without difficulty in aquaria at 

 Plymouth and at St Andrews. They are of the buoyant trans- 

 parent kind, and belong to the type with a simple undivided 

 yolk and a single large oil globule. The eggs of the two species 

 resemble one another very closely (Fig. 145). In size those of the 

 grey gurnard are very slightly the smaller, on the average, but in 

 both cases there is considerable variation, those of the grey 

 being from 1-42 to 1-55 mm., those of the red from 1-47 to r6i 

 mm. in breadth. (In fractions of an inch y^^ to ^^ or about 

 oV is sufficiently exact for most purposes.) In both cases the 

 oil globule when the &gg is first "shed is brownish-yellow, or 

 copper-coloured, but in the later stages of development the 



