SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 129 



SEA-FISH HATCHING AT PIEL. 

 By Andrew Scott. 



The results of the hatching work in the spring of 

 1906 are very similar to those obtained in previous years. 

 The present accommodation for adult fishes is always 

 strained to the limit of safety. Any marked increase in 

 the output could, therefore, only be secured by consider- 

 able additions to the existing tanks. 



The first eggs were observed on February 17th, but 

 no fertilised ones were obtained till March 14th. The 

 spawning lasted for practically two months. During that 

 time fourteen millions of flounders' eggs were collected and 

 one and a half millions of plaice eggs. The incubation of 

 the eggs was carried on in the usual manner in the 

 Dannevig apparatus, and yielded nearly fourteen millions 

 of fry. The fry were liberated at intervals, well out in 

 Morecambe Bay. It has been customary to set free the 

 parent fish in the Barrow Channel at the end of each 

 hatching season, but the fate of these fish has always been 

 unknown. At the end of the hatching season in 1905 

 Mr. Johnstone marked some of the large plaice from the 

 tanks and set them free between Lancashire and the 

 Isle of Man. None of these have been recovered. Another 

 attempt to find out the movements of the fish was made by 

 marking some of the flounders in 1906. These were set 

 free outside the Barrow Channel. A few of the marked 

 flounders were recaptured by fishermen and returned to 

 us, and are dealt with by Mr. Johnstone in his report on 

 fish marking. During the autumn of 1906 the local 



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