of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



187 



forms were, however, obtained ; and the observations in regard to 

 the various species of skates and rays, and the herring, are not extensive 

 enough for definite conclusions to be founded upon them. 



Above 6000 of the fish were carefully measured, the precise place and 

 time of capture noted, and the nature of the food found in the stomach 

 recorded. These records were almost entirely made by Mr Thomas Scott, 

 on board the 'Garland.' The tables at the end of this report give an 

 abstract of most of the information obtained, so far as the reproductive 

 organs are concerned. Above 16,000 of the fish were examined by 

 fishery officers during April, May and June 1889, chiefly on the East 

 Coast, but also in the Orkney and Shetland Isles, and in certain districts 

 on the West Coast. These fish were not measured, but the place of 

 capture was ascertained from the fishermen, and the number examined 

 and the number found ripe recorded.* 



It will, therefore, be seen that the information upon which our Report 

 is based is of a very extensive nature. 



It must be borne in mind that the words ' mature ' and ' immature ' 

 refer solely to the condition of the reproductive organs, and are not, 

 therefore, synonymous with the terms as popularly used. 



I. Flat Fish. 



Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa). 



The investigations into the spawning of the plaice have been of much 

 interest, enabling comparison to be made between the inshore waters at 

 various parts of the coast and certain important offshore grounds. The 

 number of fish examined was over 1400, — of which 222 were examined by 

 fishery officers on the East Coast, above 1100 on board the 'Garland' or 

 'Southesk,' and over 100 at the University. The latter, which were 

 obtained from a fishmonger, are stated to have been caught at a distance 

 of 20 or 30 miles off May Island. Of the specimens examined on 

 board the ' Garland,' 479 were obtained from the Firth of Forth, 335 from 

 St Andrews Bay, and 187 from Montrose Bay, Aberdeen Bay, and the 

 Moray Firth. All these were obtained from the inshore, and the great 

 majority from the territorial waters. The 172 examined on board the 

 £ Southesk ' were, on the other hand, all obtained from the offshore fishing 

 grounds in the Moray Firth, at distances of from 7 to 18 or 20 miles 

 from shore. It will be convenient to consider the fish obtained from the 

 territorial waters separately from those caught offshore. 



Territorial Waters. — The striking fact is revealed by the records that 

 of 1000 fish obtained from the territorial waters at short intervals 

 during the entire year, only one was found mature. This solitary 

 individual was a female, caught at Station I.f in St Andrews Bay, on 

 September 18th, and was 26 inches long. Not a single ripe plaice 

 was got in the Firth of Forth or at the stations just outside it. Eight 

 individuals, nearly mature or three-fourths mature, were caught in the 

 Firth of Forth in October, November, December and January; but 

 the rest in these months, and all the others examined in the other 

 months, were immature. In the Moray Firth, plaice were examined 



* We have specially to thank Mr Donald Miller, Montrose ; Mr John Murray, 

 Newhaven ; and the officers at Stonehaven, Peterhead, Macduff, Fraserburgh, 

 Buckie, Lybster, Lerwick, and Campbeltown, for the care with which they have kept 

 the records, and also Mr W. Ramsay Smith, B. Sc. for preparing the tables at the 

 end of the report. 



t Vide footnote on p. 182. 



