366 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



not be kept at work at all. One hundred and fifty to two hundred boxes 

 of haddocks are often landed at (Irimsby by a steam-trawler after a 

 week's fishing or even less on the Dogger Bank. Plaice are also fairly 

 abundant on the Dogger, and some cod are taken, especially in si)ring. 

 A few turbot are taken but soles are scarce. Lemon dabs are seldom 

 taken on the Dogger, but are found in depths beyond 20 fathoms 

 throughout the northern part of the North Sea. 



The Eastern Grounds are worked by English vessels, mostly from 

 Grimsby and Hull, in summer, from March and April onwards. They 

 are less productive in winter. They are remarkable for the great 

 abundance of small plaice taken on them, more than 250 boxes being 

 often landed from a single voyage by a steam-trawler. Soles, turbot, 

 and brill are also plentiful on these grounds, the soles being mostly 

 large, but a large proportion of the turbot and brill small. Cod are 

 scarce, lemon dabs absent, and haddock occur in very moderat 

 numbers. Latchets or tubs are rather plentiful and of large size, and 

 in this respect, as well as in several of the above features, the Eastern 

 Grounds resemble the Brown Ridges. The bottom is composed ot 

 smooth sand, or muddy sand, with some gravelly and stony areas 

 in parts. 



The term Eastern Grounds is restricted in the Humber ports to the 

 ground along the German and Danish coasts, but the shallow grounds 

 along the north coast of Holland have a similar character, and are 

 worked a great deal in summer by vessels from Grimsby and Hull, and 

 by the Yarmouth fleet. These grounds being for the most part smooth 

 and sandy, comparatively little "scruff" or unmarketable material is found 

 upon them. Whelks and whelk-spawn are abundant, and also what the 

 fishermen call teats — i.e., Alcyonhini digitatmn. Edible crabs are taken 

 in some numbers, and star-fishes of various kinds are numerous. 



The grounds lying off the mouth of the Humber and Wash to a 

 distance of about 60 miles are the home grounds of the Humber ports, 

 and the Yarmouth and Lowestoft vessels fish to a considerable extent 

 about the banks and shoals off the Norfolk coast. Plaice of various 

 sizes are taken on these grounds, and also haddock, though not so plen- 

 tifully as on more northern grounds. Soles, brill, and turbot occur, and 

 also lemon dabs in moderate numbers. Cod and codling and gurnard 

 are taken, but latchets are only occasionally seen. These grounds pro- 

 duce an extraordinary quantity of " scruff," of which the most abundant 

 constituent is a form known to the fishermen as " curly cabbage," a fixed 

 compound gelatinous organism {Alcyonidium gelatinosian). Hydroids 

 (chiefly Sertularia and Hydrallmannia) are also abundant. 



The grounds to the east and south-east of. the Dogger are also fished, 

 and produce chiefly haddock and plaice. 



