MARINE ZOOLOGY 



fish [Liparis montagui), the lump sucker {Cyclopterus lumpus), and others are 

 (some of them at least) always present. A remarkable fish which is always 

 present in more or less abundance is the virulent ' stinger ' T'rachinus vipera. 

 A huge host of invertebrates is always present. Chief among these is the 

 swimming crab Portunus depurator, and it is remarkable that an unusually 

 large proportion of these are infested with the parasitic cirripede Sacculina. 

 Starfishes [Asterias) are extraordinarily abundant at times, and during the 

 summer months the Medusa3 Rhizostoma, Aurelia, and Cyanea are present. 

 Sometimes the former is a great nuisance to the shrimping boats. Large 

 forms, a foot or more in diameter, are so abundant at times as to clog up the 

 net with broken fragments. If these are allowed to dry on the meshes a fine 

 dust is formed when the latter are shaken out which produces most 

 unpleasant effects on the nasal and respiratory epithelia, due no doubt to the 

 dried substance of the nematocysts of the medusas. Other crabs, the shore 

 crab [Carcinus), spider crabs such as Hyas, Stenorhynchus, the hermit crab 

 {Pagurus), and the edible crab (Cancer), are often present. The squid 

 [Loligo) and the cuttle fish [Sepia), mostly young specimens, occur during 

 the autumn. The Ctenophore Pleurobrachia is incredibly abundant at times, 

 being just large enough to be retained by the meshes of the nets. Shrimps 

 and ' sprawns ' are found, the former in immense numbers, the latter rarely ; 

 and small lobsters are frequently present. Zoophytes are rare. 



The above forms may be regarded as fairly representative of the inshore 

 marine fauna of Lancashire waters. The abundance of the fishes varies with 

 the season, but large numbers are always present. As many as 15,000 dabs 

 and 10,000 plaice have been taken on the shallow water grounds ofiF 

 Blackpool. About the middle of June (but the precise season varies) small 

 pleuronectid fishes are extraordinarily abundant. If one walks along the 

 shore about that time, following the receding tide, almost anywhere on the 

 Lancashire coast — say on the shore near the New Brighton Pier — it is possible 

 to observe and collect great numbers of small plaice and dabs in the pools left 

 by the tide. These are then no bigger than the thumbnail. A few weeks 

 later they disappear, having sought deeper water. 



Further out at sea, beyond the zone of which I am now treating, the 

 fauna changes somewhat. I may give as an instance a haul with a shrimp 

 trawl near Liverpool Bar, in water of 6 fathoms. On this occasion over 

 17,000 specimens, belonging to thirty-four genera and thirty-nine species, 

 were identified. The fishes were sole, plaice, dab, cod, whiting, haddock, 

 herring and sprat, skate, ray, goby, ' stinger,' and the ' pogge ' [Agonus 

 cataphractus). The MoUusca were the mussel {Mytilus edulis), 'hen pens' 

 [Tel Una tenuis and Mactra stultoruni), the whelk [Fusus antiquus). The 

 Crustacea were various, swimming crabs [Portunus spp.), the hermit crab 

 [Eupagurus bernhardus), shrimps, Sacculina, several Amphipoda, Copepoda 

 [Longipedia coronata, Ectinosoma spinipes, Sunaristes paguri, Dactylopusia rostrata, 

 Cletodes limicola, Caligus rapax) ; the sea-mat [Flustra). The polychsetes were 

 the sea mouse [Aphrodite), the sand-pipe [Pectinaria), and Nereis; the starfish, 

 Asterias. The zoophytes were Hydractinia echinata, Sertularia abietina, and 

 Hydrallmania falcata. The coelenterates were the Meduss Aurelia aurita and 

 Cyanea. 



Because of the extensive sand and mud flats, the Lancashire coast does 



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