of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



191 



In one or two of the collections a second group is fairly well indicated. 

 Thus, in that of 26th April, we have a series extending from 112mm. to 

 164mm. (4f- 6| inches), most being aggregated at 12cm. to 14cm. This 

 group is apparently approaching two years of age. Then, in the collection 

 taken on 1st September, the second group begins at 89mm. and apparently 

 ands at 153mm., and it represents fish at nearly the end of their second 

 summer's growth. A comparison of the Tables and dates will show that 

 the very small dabs grow slowly, and like the small plaice, grow very 

 little in winter. 



Moray Firth. 



In some collections from the Moray Firth the small dabs are also well 

 shown (Tables IX-X.). On 9th February, of a collection got in the 

 Dornoch Firth, in from 64 to 10 fathoms of water, 377 ranged in size from 

 31mm. to 78mm., the greater number being aggregated from 4cm. to 5cm. 

 These fish, of course, belonged to the spawning of the previous year, and 

 were about nine months old. On the 7th December, in another collection 

 from the Dornoch Firth, in from 4 to 9 fathoms, 219 specimens measured 

 from 24mm. to 65mm. (the next largest being 92mm.) ; they were mostly 

 aggregated from 32mm. to 42mm., and chiefly at 36mm., or barely 

 \k inches. In a large collection made at Smith Bank on the 27th 

 December, 1903, 66 small dabs measured from 25mm. to 72mm. (the next 

 largest being 84mm.), and in this case the greater number were aggregated 

 between 25mm. and 35mm. 



In the Tables the measurements of a large number of older dabs are 

 given, but the division between the annual series is not always very clear. 

 In the Dornoch Firth, in the hauls in December, a group with the 

 majority of the specimens aggregated between 10cm. and 12cm. (about 

 4| inches) may be noted; while in the collections from Smith Bank in the 

 same month the group has the aggregate between 10cm. and 14cm. In 

 the haul from the Witch ground at the end of January the aggregate is 

 at 14'5cm. to 15*5cm. (5|— 6g inches), and these fish are approaching 

 their third year. 



FLOUNDER ( Pleuronectes JiesusJ. 



The information afforded by the collections as to the rate of growth of 

 the flounder is rather scanty, small specimens of this species coming only 

 rarely under observation in the course of the investigations. The young 

 flounders prefer the shallows, especially at the mouths of streams, and 

 where the water is brackish, and even the adult is uncommon in water of 

 moderate depth, except at certain times of the year. The number 

 measured was 231. 



In the course of the push-nettings in Lochfyne specimens of flounders 

 were occasionally secured, though usually in very small numbers. A 

 series obtained on 5th July, 31 in all, measured from 16mm. to 53mm. 

 (•§-2^ inches), the greater part being grouped at 3cm., or scarcely 1J 

 inches, the arithmetical average being 319min., or 1| inches. This is 

 rather more than with the little plaice collected at the same time, in which 

 case the majority ranged from 24mm. to 32mm., and the computed 

 average size was 30 - 3mm. The spawning period of the flounder in Loch- 

 fyne, according to Williamson, is a little later than that of the plaice.* 

 It is not unlikely that at this period the habitat of the young flounder 

 leads to an exceptionally rapid growth, viz., in the very shallow and 

 mostly brackish waters, where the temperature in the summer months is 

 highest ; and probably also its growth in winter is arrested. 



* Seventeenth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland, Part III. 



