92 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



SEA FISH HATCHING AT PIEL. 

 By Andrew Scott, A.L.S. 



In the operations carried on during the fish hatching 

 season of 1903, the eggs of plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) 

 and flounder [PI. flesus) were again dealt with. At the 

 beginning of the year there were 100 mature plaice and 

 200 flounders in the tanks. The plaice, as in former 

 years, were brought from the closed waters of Luce Bay 

 by the fisheries steamer, and the flounders were collected 

 in Barrow Channel by Mr. Wright. The fish, on the 

 whole, were not so large as those used in the hatchery work 

 of 1902, but from the increase of numbers, and by main- 

 taining a good circulation of water, we were able to 

 improve upon the results then obtained. 



Under the present system we have probably nearly 

 reached the maximum number of fish that can be accom- 

 modated with safety. Further development, as we 

 pointed out in last year's Report, can only be secured by 

 an addition to our present resources. The fish hatchery 

 at Bay of JNigg, and the hatchery at Port Erin have both 

 open air ponds which are of immense use in all hatching- 

 work, and must be considered as an essential to further 

 progress. 



The first fertilised eggs were collected and placed in 

 the hatching boxes on March 9th, and the last on May 7th, 

 so that the spawning season with us extended over a 

 period of two months, or about two weeks less than in the 

 previous year. During the spawning season nearly 

 seventeen millions of eggs were collected and incubated 

 and those eggs produced close on fifteen millions of fry 

 which were set free as before near the centre of More- 

 cambe Bay. The periods of incubation of the plaice and 

 flounder eggs were practically the same as last year, from 



