A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



byssus. Sometimes this muddy deposit becomes so unresistant as to be washed 

 away by the tides, and then the mussel bed is for a time destroyed. Mussel 

 beds of greater or less extent are to be found all along the Lancashire coast, 

 but the most extensive accumulations are at Morecambe and Heysham. Here 

 there are Hterally miles of mussel beds, and in some years over 2,000 tons of 

 this animal may be sent away from Morecambe alone. The mussel thrives 

 best in locaHties where it is not uncovered by the tide for a very long 

 interval, and where some considerable proportion of fresh water finds its way 

 into the sea. Unhappily it must be added that it finds a certain admixture of 

 sewage matters a reason for self-congratulation. 



Although these two animals, the cockle and mussel, form perhaps the 

 most abundant element of the Lancashire marine inshore fauna, the shrimp, 

 prawn, and ' fluke ' are not far behind them. The shrimp {Crangon vulgaris) 

 is found all along the Lancashire coast a mile or two from low-water marks, 

 but it is particularly abundant about the banks off the estuaries of the Mersey 

 and Ribble, and in Morecambe Bay, and hundreds of boats are almost con- 

 tinually fishing for it there. The value of this little crustacean to the 

 Lancashire fishermen, and to the shrimp potters of Southport and Morecambe, 

 cannot be less than about £^z,o,ooq annually. The prawn, ' red shrimp,' or 

 ' sprawn ' (not the true prawn, but Pandalus montagui) is found also in all 

 parts of Lancashire waters, but it is particularly abundant in the inshore 

 waters near Fleetwood (hence the term Fleetwood prawn). It inhabits rough 

 stony ground, while the shrimp prefers sand or sand and mud, and it is caught 

 in trawl nets fitted with extra stout foot-ropes so as not to catch on the 

 stones among which the prawn lives. 



Then in addition to this characteristic ' shellfish ' fauna, consisting of the 

 cockle, mussel, shrimp, and prawn, we find that the Lancashire inshore seas 

 contain enormous numbers of young fishes of comparatively few species. 

 This indeed is the most striking feature of the inshore marine fauna. 

 Nowhere round the British Islands (nor indeed on the north European 

 coasts, so far as I am aware) do we find so abundant a piscine fauna. The 

 whole of the inshore waters, but particularly those off the Mersey, off 

 Blackpool, and in Morecambe Bay, are a vast ' nursery ' for young pleuronectid 

 fishes, particularly dabs, plaice, and soles. With these are associated shrimps, 

 ' sprawns,' and a host of invertebrates belonging to comparatively few species. 

 I will illustrate the general character of the fauna of these nursery grounds by 

 quoting the results of a haul with a shrimp trawl witnessed by myself in 

 August, 1899. The shrimp trawl was dragged for about an hour over two 

 miles of sand and mud in the vicinity of the Deposit Buoy off Burbo Bank 

 at the mouth of the Mersey. There were caught : 896 dabs (Pleuronectes 

 limanda), 285 whiting [Gadus merlangus), 265 plaice [Pleuronectes platessd), 

 257 soles {So lea vulgaris), and 18 ray {Raia clavatd). AH these are of course 

 edible fishes. 



But in addition to such hauls of these common fishes, of which the 

 above figures may be regarded as fairly representative, others are always found, 

 whiting (Gadus ceglefinus), cod (G. morrhua), herring [Clupea harenga), 

 sprats (C spratta), and gurnards [Trigla spp.) being most common. Inedible 

 fishes such as the solenette {Solea luted), butterfish {Centronotus), the bullhead 

 [Cottus Scorpio), the sand eels {Ammodytes tobianus and lanceolatus) , the toad 



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