FISH NOTES FROM NORTH DEVON COAST. 141 



Flounders, Red and Grey Gurnard, and Soles are all common. 

 Soles are sometimes taken in some numbers in the Taw river. 



A Turbot {Rhombus maximus) taken in South Devon off Berry 

 Head weighed 23 lb., and realized £1 9s. It is very rarely seen 

 in North Devon. In 1905 one hundred and ninety-three Sharks 

 were caught in Bideford Bay by the river fishermen within two 

 or three days. One — carted to Barnstaple — was a small speci- 

 men of the Blue Shark {Carcharias glaucus). 



A Torpedo Electric Ray (Torpedo hebetajis), weighing nearly 

 a hundredweight, and about five feet in length, was found 

 stranded on the banks of the River Taw, near Barnstaple, on 

 June 8th last year. It was in an advanced stage of decomposi- 

 tion, but was carried to Barnstaple and exhibited. Shortly 

 after another was found floating dead on the water, also in our 

 river, making the third captured here in three years, the one 

 recorded in ' The Zoologist ' (1905, p. 112) being the first. All 

 three were picked up dead several miles from the sea. Possibly 

 it was the foul water that had a fatal effect on them. It is con- 

 sidered a rare fish at Clovelly, where it is known as the " Numb- 

 fish." 



I saw an immense specimen of the Sea-Angler (Lophius 

 piscatorius) a year or so ago, lying in a hand-cart at Teignmouth. 

 It is often taken at Clovelly. In June, 1906, one was caught 

 near the Salmon-fishing weir at Lynmouth. In the following 

 July a man landed, with a boat-hook, a small one about 1^ ft. 

 long, which was swimming just below the surface in our river, 

 above Barnstaple. The man called it a "Bellows" fish, and 

 said he had never seen one so far up the river before. It was 

 very vicious, and a large rope placed in front of its nose was 

 promptly seized by the teeth, and it allowed itself to be lifted off 

 the ground rather than release its hold. 



The Sunfish (Orthagoriscus mola) is frequent. Several seen 

 in the little harbour of Clovelly in the summer of 1905. A large 

 specimen was taken at Ilfracombe last year by a fisherman, who 

 passed a rope under its big. body, and so hauled it aboard. An- 

 other was captured in the same year at Lynmouth with a boat- 

 hook. 



Montagu's Blenny (Blennius galerita) and the Shanny (B. 

 pholis) are common among the rock-pools at Santon. 



