of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



67 



Sprat {Clwpea sprattus). 



Sprats were occasionally taken in the otter-trawl and not unf requently 

 in the small-meshed net — sometimes many hundreds of them. They 

 occurred in the otter-net on the following occasions — viz., in June and 

 July in the Dornoch Firth and Aberdeen Bay, in the Dornoch Firth in 

 December, and at the Dog Hole off Aberdeen and off Dunbeath in 

 December, as shown in the following Table : — 



Date. 



Place. 



Depth in 



No. 



6 June, - 



Aberdeen Bay, 



4^-16 



2 



2 July, . 



Dornoch Firth, 



10 



1 



3 , - - 



J> 55 ----- 



10-12 



23 



3 „ - - 



5 5 5 5 



55 



2 



3 „ - - 



5 5 5 5 - - - - - 



6i-12 



3 



5 „ - - 



Aberdeen Bay, 



8-15 



1 



19 December, - 



Dornoch Firth, 



9-10 



3 



15 January, 



Dog Hole, off Aberdeen, - - - - 



57 



1 



17 „ 



Off Dunbeath, 



24 



1 



Sprats were never taken in either the otter-net or the fine net on the 

 offshore grounds, but a few were obtained in hauls at the Dog Hole in 

 deep water — viz., on 28th November fourteen, measuring from 87- 

 125 mm. (3|-4J-f inches) — on this occasion three anchovies were also 

 caught, — and on 15th January, when other fourteen were taken. None 

 were taken at the Dog Hole in J une, J uly, August, or December. In 

 Aberdeen Bay sprats were captured in January, June, September, 

 October, November, and December, in hauls made in from five to 

 eighteen fathoms. At Lunan Bay, Montrose, eighty were taken on 

 28th June in a drag of sixteen minutes, along with 1916 herrings, the 

 depth being about twelve-and-a-half fathoms. In the Dornoch Firth 

 two were taken in July in ten to twelve fathoms, and 185 in December ; 

 at Burghead Bay in December, in the Firth of Forth in May, and in 

 the Cromarty Firth in January and June. The haul on 1st June in the 

 Cromarty Firth was of interest, because it was found that the larger 

 sprats, of which 552 were taken, ranging from 73 to 124 mm. (2|- to 

 4g inches) were spawning. Females from 104 mm. upwards were ripe, 

 and males from the same size ; but some may have been mature under 

 the length given. The temperature of the bottom was 55^^ F., and of 

 the surface water 54' -7. The small-meshed net also contained seventy 

 young herrings ranging from 104 to 197 mm., seventy-seven small 

 whitings from 132-195 mm., which were feeding on the young sprats 

 and herrings; three codlings from 143 to 152 mm., similarly engaged; 

 and a fifteen-spined stickleback, 153 mm. in length, from which the 

 ripe eggs were extruding. 



[Table. 



