of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 



167 



THE WEST COAST EXPEDITION OF THE 'GARLAND' DURING 

 JULY AND AUGUST 1892. Report by W. Anderson Smith. 



Having joined the steamship 'Garland' on the 28th of July 1892, we 

 started down the Firth of Forth in the very early morning, and dredged 

 and trawled about six thousand clams from the clam beds of the Firth of 

 Forth, placing them in the prepared receptacles on deck. This done, we 

 conveyed them to the Moray Firth, w 7 here we chose the Guillane bank, 

 off the mouth of Cromarty Firth, as the most suitable ground in the 

 neighbourhood. The depth here was lOf fathoms at the north-east end 

 of the bank, and there we placed the clams, at that time still in good 

 health ; in the hope of starting a fishing-bank in a central part of the 

 Firth. Although there are clams at present in the Moray Firth, they are 

 very scarce, and it is questionable whether the locality is specially suited 

 for them in quantities ; but the opportunity is now given to test the pos- 

 sibilities of this ground, seeing the spawning season was approaching, and 

 those laid down will have every chance of depositing spawn on suitable 

 ground. The temperature at the surface was 14*8° C, at the bottom 11° C. 



This done we proceeded through the canal to the West Coast, and 

 although we took a dredge or two and a trawl on the way, we did not 

 meet anything of much importance, nor did we add to our previous know- 

 ledge obtained in the Linnhe Loch. A Montague's sucker came up in 

 the dredge from 25 fs., a fish we have only taken in the laminarian zone pre- 

 viously in the west. Leaving Oban we proceeded north for Isle Oronsay, 

 and trawled the Sound of Sleat on the way. Here we met with the first 

 material of importance, finding a considerable number of smelts, Argen- 

 tina sphceroena, in the trawl-net, although from the size of the mesh the 

 greater number of any such fish must have passed through. We also met 

 in considerable numbers the comparatively rare starfish Astronyx Loveni, 

 Midler, of which we had only taken one specimen previously, and this in 

 the same locality. Here we also took two specimens of Isocardia cor 

 alive, along with Rossia macrosoma and Nephrops norvegicvs in spawn. 

 Amongst other common East Coast flat-fish we found a number of sail 

 flukes, hitherto comparatively scarce in our West Coast records. The 

 smelts proved to be of good size and in very fine condition, and we do 

 not doubt that this fish is a resident of these northern waters in consider- 

 able quantities. The following day we proceeded to Loch Alsh, continuing 

 up Loch Duich, which wild and picturesque loch we trawled from opposite 

 Inverinet House down, dredging at the same time. The fish fauna we 

 found of little interest, and indeed fish were very scarce, including sail 

 fluke, witch, and long rough dab. The loch is too rough for trawling to 

 any length, and the trawl soon came to a stand. Astronyx and Penna- 

 tulce were numerous and fine, and a specimen of Xantlio rivulosa was also 

 procured. The character of the bottom did not promise any great wealth 

 of fish life at any time. Leaving this loch we proceeded to Loch Carron, 

 which we dredged and trawled from opposite Jeantown down towards 

 the mouth, dredging again nearer shore above Strorae Castle. That great 

 quantities of herring sile were about was proved by the enormous numbers 

 of gulls on the water. In some places they looked like a great line 

 of froth from a distance, and this phenomenon was continually repeated 

 throughout our expedition in many other lochs, as well as in the Minch 

 alongside. The dogfish Mustela vulgaris taken in Loch Carron was full 

 of young cuttlefish, while young Nephrops mainly constituted the food of 

 the other fish taken. The loch otherwise only contained the usual captures, 



