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Part III — Eighteenth Annual Report 



Marine Station, Millport, in a letter to me concerning some Clyde fishes, 

 says that "a sturgeon was caught near Carradale in 10 to 12 fathoms of 

 water; it was about 7 or 8 feet long, but in poor condition, and was sold 

 in the Glasgow market by Mr. Lagan of Paisley for =£1 15s. So far as 

 I can recollect, this was in the late autumn of 1895. A few years previous 

 to this I remember seeing another sturgeon, perhaps 5 or 6 feet long, that 

 was caught in a salmon-net at Penimore Bay ; I had no opportunity to 

 examine this specimen, as it was shipped on the steamer ready for 

 conveyance to the Glasgow market when I saw it." 



Order ELASMOBRANCHII. 



Fam. Oarchariid^:. 



Carcharias glaucus, Linne. The Blue Shark. 



This shark has been taken in Loch Fyne (H.B., p. 177). Mr. A. B. 

 Watt of Glasgow saw a specimen of Carcharias which had come ashore 

 at Ayr Bay on the 11th or 12th September last year (1899). 



Galeus canis, Rondel. The Tope or Toper. 



Several specimens of this species were landed at Girvan in December 

 last. They were at the time mistaken for another species, but were 

 subsequently correctly identified as the tope. I am not aware of this 

 species having been previously recorded for the Clyde ; probably it is only 

 an occasional visitor to the estuary, and may on former occasions have 

 been passed over as one of the more common species. A fine specimen 

 of toper was brought to Girvan by a local fisherman on December 28th. 

 It was examined by Mr. Duthie, the Fishery Officer at that place, who was 

 able to identify the species; the specimen measured 5 feet in length and 

 24 inches in circumference at the thickest part. Mr. Duthie was kind 

 enough to secure the specimen and forward it to the Laboratory at Bay of 

 INigg, and I was thus enabled to verify Mr. Duthie's identification. The 

 specimen was a female. 



Fam. Lamnhle. 



\_Alopias vulpes (Gmel.). The Thrasher or Fox Shark. 



Captain Campbell, of the Fishery steamer " Garland," informs me 

 that a year or two ago he was proceeding down Loch Fyne, and, 

 having reached a point somewhere between Crarae and Castle Lachlan, 

 but rather nearer the former place, he saw a thrasher making an attack 

 on what was probably a cetacean of some kind ; the thrasher was leaping 

 clear out of the water in its usual way when engaged at this kind of 

 work, and was coming down with a slap, the sound of which could be 

 heard distinctly on board the vessel. Captain Campbell knows the 

 thrasher quite well, and has frequently, when voyaging across the Atlantic, 

 been an eye-witness of its tactics, so that there is little likelihood of his 

 having been mistaken about the fish he saw in Loch Fyne. 



My friend Mr. Gray of Millport tells me that in July 1895 a thrasher 

 shark got into shallow water in Machrihanish Bay, and that some men 

 there put off in a boat and, with ropes, managed to entangle it and haul 

 it ashore close to the Pans Hotel. This specimen, which measured 15^ 

 feet in length, was seen by Mr. Gray soon after it was captured. 

 Machrihanish, though not within the Clyde area, is only a few miles 

 west from Campbeltown, and comparatively near the mouth of the Clyde, 

 and tends to show that the Alopias may occasionally find its way into 

 the Clyde estuary.] 



