— 78 — 



3. British Isles 



Gadus luscus is a distinctly coastal form , preferring according to the available in- 

 formation stony ground covered with plant vegetation. It does not seem to be a specially 

 common fish on the Atlantic coasts of the British Isles, but is nevertheless found in the 

 north right to the Shetlands (as well as on the North Sea coasts both of Scotland and 

 England). It may occur however in great quantities, as for example on the west coast of 

 Scotland, which can be seen from the trawlings of the "Garland" ; to mention only one 

 example, a haul with the shrimp trawl on Jan. 19th, 1899, in the Firth of Clyde ^ gave 

 99 Gadus luscus ("Brassie"). Of these 58 were 3, 30—4, 10 — 5 and 1—6 inches long 

 and belonged probably therefore to the I-group. 



To judge from the more recent observations P'dlton^, Williamson', Mc Intosh and 

 Masterman*, which however only refer to the east coast of Scotland, the sexual organs in 

 this species seem to ripen early in spring (as in the Channel, see below, p. 81), so that it 

 spawns perhaps from the beginning of March or end of February to May or even a 

 little later. 



Our investigations at Scotland do not seem to indicate that very large quantities of 

 Gadus luscus are reproduced there ^, as though we were working there in May, June and 

 September we only took in all 1 specimen (at St. 91. on June 24th 1906); our hauls 

 otherwise, it may said, were very rich both quantitatively and qualitatively and we found 

 the fry of all the other coastal gadoids which are known to occur at Scotland (see the 

 tables and charts). It must not be forgotten, however, that several of our hauls, perhaps 

 the greater part, were made too far out to sea for this markedly coastal form (which like- 

 wise seems to ihave a short pelagic life like so many other distinctly coastal forms) , so 

 that they cannot be considered as finally decisive 0. 



With regard to Ireland, Holt's investigations on the west coast (I.e., p. 398) do not 

 ■Bltogether indicate that the bib is there a common fish, as he only mentions the discovery 

 of 2 ripe males in Dingle Bay (S. W. coast) on May 12th. Our hauls on the west and 

 south-west coasts of Ireland in May and June did not yield any pelagic fry of this species, 

 nor were the bottom stages obtained in our investigations in Valencia Harbour (Co. Kerry), 

 but it must be remembered that our stations were most of them too far out to sea (with 

 exception however of the rich Station 59, 1906 and several others). Nor do the samples 

 from Irish waters received from Mr. E. W. L. Holt indicate that large quantities of the fry 

 of the bib are produced ; in all 1 have only found 4 specimens. Of these 3 were taken in 

 June and July in the Irish Sea (length IOV2, 15 and 33 mm.) and the 4th (6 mm.) on 

 the south coast of Ireland. 



If the available observations from the Atlantic coasts of the British Isles have been 



' 17th Annual Report of the Pish. Board for Scotland, p. 57, 1899. 



2 ibid. 8th Ann. Eeport, 1889 and 9th Ann. Eeport 1890. 



» ibid. 24th Ann. Keport, 1906, 



* 1. c, 1897, p. 253. 



^ Williamson in his excellent and important paper on the pelagic eggs in Loch Fyne (17th Ann. 

 Eeport Fish. Board Scot. 1899, p. 98) states that the eggs of this species "were abundant in March dimin- 

 ishing rapidly in number after April". The eggs were determined by measuring. 



" It is remarkable however that we did not find the fry in our extremely rich hauls in the Straits 

 between Scotland and the Hebrides. 



