of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 
175 
Whiting (Gadus merlangus). 
The observations regarding the distribution of immature whitings are 
of much interest. Altogether 26,475 whitings were obtained, of which 
296 had reached adult size, and no less than 26,179 were immature. In 
the autumn of last year the * Garland' discovered the presence in the 
Firth of Forth of a vast shoal of young whitings, mostly ranging in size 
from three to five inches, as many as 3606 immature individuals being 
captured in one haul of the net. This shoal was pretty equally distri- 
buted over the bottom of the firth, except in the shallow waters close to 
the shore, where comparatively few were obtained. It extended, one 
might say, like a sheet from Oxcar lighthouse to some eight miles 
beyond the Isle of May, a distance of thirty-six miles. Twenty miles off 
May Island not a single immature specimen was obtained while this 
shoal was present in the firth. The great proportion were obtained 
between Inchkeith and May Island, in water of from fifteen to thirty 
fathoms. I have calculated the number present in this shoal, based upon 
the number obtained in about thirty hauls of the net, and the area of 
the bottom where they were found, and the result is certainly astonish- 
ing, showing that above 230,000,000 of immature whitings were 
present in the Firth of Forth and neighbouring waters in September 
1889. It shows to what an extent the territorial waters may serve 
as a nursery for the whiting. As has been said, comparatively few 
were found in the shallow water or close in-shore (Tables V. and VI.). 
The average number per shot at distances within a mile off the shore was 
16 T ; at distances up to three miles 85 '9 : from three to six miles 421*3 ; 
from six to twelve miles 37 3 '1 ; and from twelve to eighteen miles 19*2. 
The largest number was obtained in water of from twenty-five to thirty 
fathoms deep, the average number per haul being 841-7; comparatively 
few were got under five fathoms depth. 
In the preceding May immature whitings were fairly numerous in the 
Firth of Forth, but the majority of these were over five inches in length, 
and very few were under three inches. Over ninety per cent, of those 
composing the shoal in September, on the other hand, were under five 
inches in length. The smallest specimens obtained were two inches 
long. In September the in-shore grounds off the Aberdeenshire coast 
were also examined, but very few immature whitings were obtained.. In 
October there was an obvious diminution in their numbers in the Firth 
of Forth. In February, March, and April of the present year (1890) while 
young whitings were fairly numerous, especially near the mouth of the 
firth, they were very much less abundant than during last September, 
and the majority of them were five or six inches long. It would appear 
that the shoal gradually dispersed at the beginning of winter. In regard 
to the origin of this immense shoal, it must be borne in mind that the 
whiting spawns in March, April, May, and June, and a pelagic specimen 
one inch long has been captured by the tow-net in September.* The 
observations in the preceding May showed that there were few very 
small whiting in the Firth of Forth at that time. It is difficult to 
understand how the great shoal of September could be caused by an 
incursion from off-shore of fish spawned the previous season. The young 
whiting may have come from rocky places, and been recruited by those 
spawned in the neighbourhood of the Firth of Forth from three to six 
months before. 
* Report on the Pelagic Fauna, by Professor MTntosh. Seventh Annual Report, 
Fishery Board, Part III., p. 308, 1889. 
