SEA FISHERIES LABORATORY. 75 



seven have been specially examined, Sole, Plaice, Dab, 

 Flounder, Haddock, Grey Gurnard and Ked Gurnard. 

 Our object was to keep a record of the smallest mature 

 males and females we met with and of the largest imma- 

 ture males and females. In regard to those in the latter 

 category it may be remarked that great caution must be 

 exercised, as in the case of an individual fish that is a late 

 spawner the reproductive organs at the normal breeding 

 season may show little or no signs of the distension which 

 is usual in fish that are approaching maturity. 



Sole (Solea vulgaris) — smallest ripe female 11J inches, 

 largest immature fish (male) 9J inches. The number we 

 have examined has, on account of the difficulty of obtain- 

 ing the fish in this district, been too small to lead to any 

 conclusion, but the results such as they are agree tolerably 

 with those given by Holt for the North Sea — 10 inches 

 for the mature male and 12 inches for the female. 



Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) — smallest ripe female 13 

 inches, male 10J inches ; largest immature female 19 

 inches, male 13 inches. We have as yet examined only 

 73 fish, ranging in size from 6 to 20 inches, trawled on 

 the spawning grounds. The smallest ripe male was only 

 10|- inches, but that was probably an exceptional case. 

 Holt gives the spawning period in the North Sea as from 

 the middle of January to the end of March, and rarely 

 going as late as May. We did not obtain spawning fish 

 here till the middle of March, and they went on till the 

 middle of May. 



Dab (Pleuronectes limanda) — smallest ripe female 5^ 

 inch, male 4 J inch ; largest immature female llf inch, male 

 6f . The largest female fish was 12J inches, the largest 

 male 9 inches. 511 fish have been examined. The smallest 

 ripe male we have found is only 4|- inches long, but this is 

 undoubtedly an exceptional case, the average at maturity 



