SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 36l 



Fulton* on the East coast of Scotland. Spawning takes 

 place on the off-shore grounds out from the mouths of the 

 Forth and St. Andrews Bay, and the eggs are borne 

 inwards and supply the nurseries in those waters. Num- 

 bers of Plaice on these inshore grounds were captured and 

 marked by the attachment of a numbered label, and then 

 liberated. After variable periods these fishes were re- 

 captured, generally by the fishermen, and then returned 

 to the Fishery Board officers. In this way the course 

 after liberation was determined, and it was found that a 

 slow migration from the South and round the North coasts 

 of the Firth of Forth and then round Fife Ness into St. 

 Andrews Bay took place, the fishes then moving outwards 

 from these shallow waters to the spawning grounds. It is 

 certain that some such movement takes place on the Lan- 

 cashire coasts, though Fulton's experiments have not been 

 repeated there. The distribution of sizes is, however, 

 sufficient evidence, backed with what we know of the 

 actual movements in other places. We have seen that on 

 the nursery grounds great numbers of young Plaice of 

 about \ inch long are found during the early summer, and 

 owing to the great quantity of these small fishes the 

 average size at that time must be very low. Towards 

 September, however, these little fishes have entirely dis- 

 appeared from the sandy pools, and the numbers of Plaice 

 on the grounds slightly olf-shore (up to 6 fathoms in 

 depth) have greatly increased. These fishes, which are 

 now from 2 to 4 inches in length, are the same individuals 

 which crowded the sandy pools between tide marks some 

 months earlier, and the first part of their off-shore migra- 

 tion has begun. 



Further out to sea within territorial waters generally 

 the average size of the Plaice caught in the trawl nets is 

 * llth Ad. Report Scottish Fish. Bel., p. 17G, 1892. 



