2o6 SALT-WATER FISHES 



the early years of the nineteenth century, but has been ex- 

 tremely scarce there ever since. 



Pilchards feed close to the land in the summer months, and 

 chiefly at night, but they are said by the fishermen to feed with 

 their heads all pointing away from the land, so that the shoals 

 can easily re-form on the approach of dawn. This view is borne 

 out by the fact that of the thousands of pilchards strangled on 

 some nights in drift-nets set parallel with the land, the writer 

 has often found no more than five per cent, caught on the 

 outer side of the net, thus showing that the vast bulk of the 

 fish struck the meshes on the land side. 



The Sprat (C sprat (US') is a smaller fish, and rarely exceeds 

 6J in. As already shown, it is easily distinguished from the 

 herring by its saw-edged belly and dorsal fin commencing 

 behind the point opposite the pelvic fin. It has no teeth, and 

 its scales are larger than in a herring of similar size. From 

 the pilchard it is at once distinguished by the absence of 

 radiating lines on the gill-covers. 



Its relations with the " whitebait " of commerce have already 

 been explained. It apparently spawns closer to the coast than 

 the herring or pilchard ; indeed, in such enclosed waters as the 

 Firth of Forth its eggs are found farther from the open sea 

 than those of any other marine fish. It is found on all 

 European coasts, in the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, and in 

 the Baltic, and the chief regular fisheries of importance are 

 in estuaries and narrow seas. 



The floating egg of the sprat is found in the sea at Plymouth 

 from the end of January until the end of April, on the west 

 coast of Ireland from March until June, and at St. Andrews 

 from April to July. The female deposits about 5,000, and 

 each measures about -^ in., is transparent, and has no oil- 

 globule. The yolk is divided by numerous lines. Sprats' eggs 

 are also found on the bottom in shallow, brackish water ; and 

 Mcintosh suggests that these fish sometimes spawn up estuaries, 

 so as to ensure the eggs sinking in the less dense water. 



