of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



63 



in sixty-four fathoms in June about sixty miles from the northern coast 

 of Aberdeen ; and one, 26 inches in length, in seventy fathoms, near 

 the Yiking Bank. 



Thus the turbot, like the plaice, extends its wanderings into com- 

 paratively deep water at a distance from the land. 



Halibut {Hippoglossus vulgaris). 



Very few halibut were obtained in the course of the investigations — 

 viz., ninety-six — and they were nearly all small. Most of them were 

 taken in the deep-water voyages off the Shetlands, sixty-three in 

 number, their sizes ranging from 17J to 49| inches, and running 

 almost always between twenty and thirty inches. They were got most 

 plentifully in the hauls off Fair Isle, in sixty-five fathoms, in October. 

 Six were taken in the nine hauls on the Fisher Bank, in thirty-four 

 fathoms, at the end of May and beginning of June, and all were small. 

 The number obtained in the Moray Firth was eighteen, taken in 

 January, February, March, May, June, October, November, and 

 December ; and fifteen were procured in Aberdeen Bay in May, J une, 

 November, and December. None were taken in fifty-three hauls in 

 the Moray Firth and Aberdeen Bay in July, August, and September, 

 probably indicating that the small halibut at this period move off inio 

 deeper water, although it cannot be said that they are numerous at any 

 time in the shallower areas which were investigated. These smaller 

 forms, when taken, are usually found near rocky ground. Only one of 

 them was too small to be marketable. No halibut, it may be said, were 

 procured in the eight hauls in from fifty-three to seventy fathoms at the 

 Dog Hole, off Aberdeen. The smallest halibut I obtained were these : — 

 In the Dornoch Firth in December, one measuring 35*3 cm. (14 inches), 

 and weighing 15| oz. ; in Aberdeen Bay, in from eight to eighteen 

 fathoms, on 1st November, one of 188 mm. (7| inches); off Dunbeath, 

 Caithness, in October, one of 285 mm. (11| inches). 



The trawlers working on the north-eastern and northern grounds 

 always bring in a few halibut, mostly small — ranging about the sizes 

 stated above, and occasionally a large one is included in the '* shot." 

 They are much more abundant on the Faroe and Iceland grounds. I 

 have seen a " shot " from Iceland landed by a foreign trawler which 

 included many hundreds and perhaps thousands of small halibut, 

 many of them no larger than flounders. The supply of halibut, how- 

 ever, mostly depends upon the liners. 



Little Sole or Solenette (Solea lutea). 0 



This small pleuronectid was obtained occasionally in the ordinary 

 trawl-net, particularly in the Moray Firth, and also in the shrimp-net 

 and small-meshed net. Specimens were obtained in the Dornoch Firth, 

 off Lossiemouth, and in Burghead Bay in April, June, August, 

 November, and December, in from five to fifteen fathoms, and off 

 Lybster, Caithness, in November, in twenty-three or twenty-four 

 fathoms. Forty-five specimens were caught in the Moray Firth, besides 

 a number by the " Garland " — as many as twenty -two and fifteen in a 

 haul for an hour — in December, in ten to twelve fathoms, off the Suters 

 of Cromarty. In July, some years ago, the "Garland" found large 

 numbers spawning on Smith Bank, sixty in one haul.* 



In Aberdeen Bay it was much more rare, ten specimens being taken 

 in October, November, and January. It appears to be still rarer 

 * Seventh Ann. Rep.y Fart III.^ p. 191. 



