98 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



SEA-FISH HATCHING AT PIEL. 

 By Andrew Scott. 



The results of the hatching work in the spring of 

 1907 are very similar to those obtained in the previous 

 year. The adult plaice were brought from Luce Bay 

 by the Fisheries steamer and the flounders from the 

 Barrow Channel by the cutter belonging to the northern 

 division of the district. 



The plaice and flounders commenced to spawn on 

 March 2nd, and the first fertilised eggs were secured two 

 days later. The spawning period lasted for two months, 

 and during that period one million four hundred thousand 

 plaice eggs were collected and thirteen million eight 

 hundred thousand flounder eggs. The eggs were 

 incubated in the usual way in the Dannevig apparatus 

 and the resulting fry liberated in the sea. The parent 

 fish were afterwards set free in the Barrow Channel. 

 Towards the end of the year the local fishermen again 

 reported the capture of unusually large plaice from the 

 channel. It is proposed during the present year to find 

 out whether the adult plaice liberated at the end of the 

 hatching season remain in the channel and are eventually 

 captured or entirely leave the neighbourhood. Before 

 being set free a number of the stronger plaice will be 

 marked with the brass label and button as in an ordinary 

 migration investigation, and no doubt the local fishermen 

 will be glad to assist by returning any marked fish that 

 they capture. 



The following tables give the number of eggs 

 collected, and of the fry hatched and set free on the dates 

 specified :• — 



