Holt — Survey of Fishing Grounds, West Coast of Ireland. 407 



PLAICE — Pleuronectes platessa. 



Total number caugtt, 1504. 



Number Examined, 533— Males, 262. Females, 271. 

 Number appoaching Eipeness, 16 — Males, 16. Females, 0. 

 Number Eipe, 56 — Males, 45. Females, 11. 



Witb tbe exception of 14, entered as immature, all the other fish in which the 

 reproductive organs were examined are entered as spent. I believe the percentage of 

 error, with regard to the females, is rather high, and, as it is impossible, owing to con- 

 fusion, in the earlier entries, to ascertain the exact number at difi'erent sizes, I shall 

 omit the spent fish from this Table. It is worthy of remark, however, that one male, 

 16 inches, and five females, 16 to 18 inches, are recorded in August as just spent. 



Table showing the Distribution in Months. 



Owing to the uncertainty attaching to the spent fish, a table of percentages would 

 not be of much use. The large pelagic eggs occurred several times in the tow-nets in 

 March. 



Dr. Fulton (8th Ann. Rep. S. F. B., p. 261) considers that in Scotch waters plaice 

 " spawn chiefly during January, February, and March ; but that the time may vary 

 in different years." So far as we can judge, the period is probably much the same 

 in Ireland ; but the occurrence of ripe and recently spent females in August is a feature 

 of interest. Fulton found nearly ripe males and females in October and November, 

 and it may be that in this species there are two distinct spawning periods, as with the 

 herring. Of this there is no further evidence. I do not consider that the occurrence 

 of ripe males throughout the period of observation is of much guidance for determining 

 the time of spawning, as in the Pleuronectidse, more noticeably in the dab than in this 

 species, it is a common experience to find more or fewer ripe males at times when all 

 the females are spent. As a rule the males of each species ripen before the females, 

 as far as the bulk of both are concerned, but here we seem rather to meet with retarda- 

 tion, though, as it is frequent in very small examples, it may sometimes be in reality 

 attributable to precocity. ^ 



Distribution op Spawning Fish. 



The ripe females occurred both in shallow water near the shore, and in deeper water, 

 viz. 3 in April, in Blacksod Bay ; 1 in March, in the Kenmare River ; in August, 1 in 



^ A record of the occiuTcnce of half-ripe females in Cork Harbour in September, 

 which has been recently communicated to me by Mr. D. H. Lane, seems to indicate 

 that we have still much to learn as to the spawning of this fish. 



