186 



Part III. — Twcniu -first Annual Report 



A^— THE DISTRIBUTION, GROWTH, AND FOOD OF THE 

 ANGLER {Lophius piscatorius). By Dr. T. Wemyss Fulton, 

 F.R.S.E., Scientific Superintendent. 



I. Distribution. 



With regard to distribution, the angler is common lioth in the inshore 

 waters and in the greatest depths at which the trawlers work, but it 

 seems to be most abundant in water of moderate depth. In the course 

 of the investigations made on board steam-trawlers from Aberdeen 

 specimens were taken on the north-eastern grounds in from seventy to 

 eighty fathoms. Bourne took one on the west coast of Ireland in 200 

 fathoms,* Brown-Goode records specimens taken on the eastern side of 

 the Atlantic from 84, 142, and 365 fathoms, t and Holb and Calderwood 

 from 115 fathoms on the west coast of Ireland. q: 



In the course of the trawling investigations 1956 specimens were taken 

 in recorded hauls, 155 on the distant grounds, 256 in Aberdeen Bay, and 

 1549 in the Moray Firth. The amount of fishing in th^ different areas 

 was, however, dissimilar, but the average number taken per ten hours' 

 trawling in the deep water on the north-eastern grounds, south-east and 

 south of the Shetland Isles, was 6*1, in Aberdeen Bay it was 15*9, and 

 in the Moray Firth 24-4. On the Great Fisher Bank in thirty-four 

 fathoms only five were taken in nine hauls in May, the proportion being 

 1*4 per ten hours' trawling. But while the proportion remained fairly 

 steady on the deep-water grounds, it fluctuated very considerably in the 

 inshore waters. In September on the former it was nearly 7 in ten 

 hours, in October 6, in May 5, in June 9. In the Moray Firth in those 

 months it was 5, 3, 66, and 6, and in Aberdeen Bay 4, 16, 68, and 5. 

 The averages for the various months in Aberdeen Bay and the Moray Firth 

 are as follows : — 





Jan. 



Feb. 



Mar. 



April. 



May. 



June. 



July. 



Aug. 



Sept. 



Oct. 



Nov. 



Dec. 



Aberdeen Bay, 



5 



2 



0-0 





68 



5 



•27 





4 



16 



8 



0-0 



Moray Firth, . 



6 



57 



10 





66 



6 



1 



22 



5 



3 



10 



36 



The proportions in the two areas do not correspond, and probably 

 show, therefore, that the abundance depends upon local conditions, as the 

 presence or absence of other fish, such as herrings, sprats, or shoals of 

 young whitings, which attract predaceous fishes. The angler, notwith- 

 standing its apparently slow power of movement, seems to be able to 

 collect where fishes, and especially small fishes, are abundant. 

 Whether this was the cause of the very large numbers taken in inshore 

 waters in May (609) is not clear. Whitings and haddocks, both large 

 and small, were at least very scarce at the time on the same grounds. 



The larger proportion of the anglers taken in the Moray Firth were got 

 at Burghead Bay on the south coast, in water from five or six to about 

 twenty fathoms deep, and they were most numerous in February, when 

 as many as ninety were taken in a single haul, the average number per 

 ten hours' trawling being 103. In this case the presence of a shoal of 



* Joitr. Mar. Biol. Assoc., New Ser., i., p. 310. 

 t Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 485. 

 XSci. Trans. Roy. Dublin Sac, v., Ser. ii., p. 415. 



