FISHES 



*I42. Trout. SalnwfariOflAnn. 

 In the rivers, e.g. the Dart. 



143. Anchovy. Engraulis encrasicholus, Linn. 

 Appears to be present in the Channel off 



the coast of Devon every year in autumn and 

 winter. In November and December 1889, 

 considerable numbers were taken with sprats 

 in the sprat seines in Torbay ; one-fifth of 

 the whole catch was stated to consist of an- 

 chovies. The fishermen of Plymouth catch 

 a few anchovies from time to time every year 

 in winter, both in pilchard and mackerel nets. 

 In November 1890, 584 anchovies were 

 caught at one time by a pilchard boat, and on 

 another occasion 500. There is a regular 

 fishery for anchovies in summer in the Zuy- 

 der Zee in Holland, and there is every reason 

 to believe that these fish migrate in autumn 

 from there into or through the English Chan- 

 nel. Small-meshed drift nets were obtained 

 and used by the staff of the Plymouth Labora- 

 tory in 1891 and 1892, but only a few an- 

 chovies were caught with these. It would 

 seem that the route of migration of these 

 fishes is in most years some distance to the 

 south of the Devon coast, so that only strag- 

 glers are caught. 



144. Herring. Clupea harengus, Linn. 



Herrings visit the coast of Devon only at 

 one season of the year, namely the winter. 

 They spawn regularly in Bigbury Bay from 

 the beginning of January onwards to the 

 middle of March, and ripe fish are sometimes 

 caught in the Channel even later. The fish 

 enter Plymouth Sound and the Hamoaze as 

 early as September, and fishing is carried on 

 in the Sound with drift-nets from small boats. 

 They are also caught with moored nets in 

 Cawsand Bay. The naturalists of the Ply- 

 mouth Laboratory did not succeed in dredging 

 the spawn, but the young fish, not long 

 hatched, were frequently taken at the surface 

 in January and February. 



145. Sprat. Clupea sprattus, Linn. 

 Caught in large numbers in the autumn 



and winter in Torbay and in the Hamoaze. 

 Many were taken in small-mesh^d nets by 

 the employes of the Plymouth Laboratory 

 between September 1891 and January 1892, 

 off Plymouth. 



The egg of this species, like that of the 

 pilchard, is pelagic, and is taken off Plymouth 

 from January to April. The fish migrate 

 from the coast to the open sea in the spawn- 

 ing season, and are not caught in breeding 

 condition by the fisherman. The few spawn- 



ing specimens that have been captured were 

 taken in the trawl, 



146. Pilchard. Clupea pilchardus, Walb., 



Artedi. 



There is a regular fishery for pilchards at 

 Plymouth from about August to Christmas, 

 many Cornish boats making this port their 

 headquarters for this fishery. The proof 

 that the eggs of this fish are buoyant and 

 pelagic was obtained at the Plymouth Labora- 

 tory by the present writer in the years 1887 

 to 1894. The spawning fish are seldom 

 taken in the ordinary course of the fishery, 

 but in mackerel nets in June it often happens 

 that a few ripe pilchards are taken. In the 

 writer's experience only the females are 

 caught in this way, the distended abdomen 

 being too large to pass through the mackerel 

 mesh. Ripe fish of both sexes were however 

 obtained on one occasion in a pilchard net at 

 the beginning of September 10 miles south of 

 the Eddystone. 



The sardines prepared in tins on the west 

 coast of France are young pilchards, 5 to 7 

 inches in length. Fish of this size have been 

 taken off Plymouth, but not in numbers suffi- 

 ciently large to be commercially important. 

 In November 1891 several hundred pilchards 

 of this size were taken in small-meshed nets 

 belonging to the Plymouth Laboratory and 

 shot at various positions south of Plymouth 

 Breakwater. Still smaller specimens, some 

 less than 3 inches in length, have been taken 

 in seines in the Hamoaze in September. 



147. Allis Shad. Clupea alosa, Linn. 

 Eight specimens 13 or 14 inches long taken 



in a mackerel seine in Plymouth Sound in 

 August 1893. Four more in September from 

 a seine in the Hamoaze. 



148. Twaite Shad. Clupea finta, Cuv, 

 Caught by whiffing with a slice of mack- 

 erel at the mouth of the Dart according to 

 Holdsworth. 



149. Maurolicus pennantii, Cuv. and Val. 



A single specimen has been taken off 

 Devonshire, as recorded by Walcott (Yarrell). 



APODES 



**I50. Eel. Anguilla vulgaris, Turton. 



Common. The eggs and larvae have been 

 proved in Sicily to be developed in the sea, 

 but have not been identified yet in British 

 waters. The young eels just after their 

 metamorphosis, from 2 inches in length 

 upwards, are common under stones on the 

 shore from February onwards. 



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