— 41 — JOHS. SCHMIDT 



3. British Isles 



Most of our iuvestigatàons witli the "Thor" are not well suited to determine the dis- 

 tribution oC the poliigic youno- eoallisli on the Atlantic coasts of the British Isles, as they 

 loll somewliat too late in the year for the spawning time of the coallish; but our invest- 

 igations on the earliest bottom stages help us here somewhat. 



I have not identified the coalfish eggs from these waters and can therefore say nothing 

 directly on the spawning there. In the Scottish waters Mc Intosh has investigated the 

 coalfish eggs (Mc Intosh and MASTERMA>f, 1897, p. 266— 267); these were talcen in February 

 and April in which months at least the coalfish must spawn there, and the reports of 

 the above authors as well as our own investigations show that the coalfish fry occur in 

 considerable numbers both on the east and west coasts of Scotland. 



Off the Moray Firth in the beginning of May we have taken up to 38 pelagic coal- 

 fish fry (length about P/s cm.) in a half hour's haul, whereas our pelagic stations on the 

 west of Scotland at the end of May (e. g. St. 8 and 10, 1908) gave up to 45 and 66 spec- 

 imens (length about 1 cm.). That very few of the larger pelagic specimens were taken at 

 our stations in June and July 190.')— 06 may therefore be ascribed chiefly to the fact that 

 the majority of the coalfish fry there had already given up the pelagic mode of life. We 

 thus see that the not very successful haul mentioned on p. 30, which was made with the eel 

 seine in the neighbourhood of Stornoway on June 5th 1905, gave 28 small bottom stages of 

 the coalfish (length 273—8 cm.), which shows that the coalfish young here had not only 

 ceased to live pelagically but had reached a very considerable size (the majority were 5 cm. 

 or above). For the Scottish east coast (St. Andrews) Mc Intosh and Masterman (1. c. p. 268 

 —269) state that "the young green cod of about Vis inch (i. e. ca. 3 cm.) are found in 

 great abundance in the tidal rock-pools in May and June." All this indicates therefore 

 that the majority of the young coalfish on the Scottish coasts have already given up the 

 pelagic life in the beginning of June^. 



At Ireland we have only taken a few large pelagic fry of the coalfish (in May), but 

 nevertheless our hauls with the eel seine in Valencia Harbour show that the coalfish must 

 spawn in no small quantities at Ireland. The scarcity of the pelagic fry in our hauls 

 with the young-fish trawl must therefore be ascribed to the lateness of the period when 

 we fished there. 



This appears also from Holt's investigations (Survey of Fishing Grounds, West Coast 

 of Ireland, p. 311 and 399), as all the females examined by him from the beginning of 

 April to late in May were "spent". Holt believes "that the coalfish spawns at the begin- 

 ning of the year." Nor can there be any doubt that this is correct, since in the first 

 place Holt (1. c. p. 311), already on the 2nd of May, took 41 young bottom stages of ca. 

 2^2 cm. long in Ballynakill Harbour on the west coast (depth V2— 2 fathoms), and the 

 "Thor" on May 25th took 96 young coalfish, the majority of which were ca. 4 cm. long, 

 at Valencia in a haul to the land with the eel seine from 7 meters depth (see List p. 31). 



' An observation at St. 97 lying S. of the Orkneys (58° 49' N., 2° 43' W. depth 56 raeteriï) on Jnne 

 30th 1906, shows however that even in the last days of June the fry of the coalfish may still occur 

 pelagically, as in one hanl of one hour's duration we took 30 specimens, the most of which were 2—3 cm. 

 long. None were found however near the surface, the 30 specimens mentioned being- taken about midway 

 between surface and bottom. 



