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Part III. — Tenth Annual Report 
round the north and east coasts. Various theories have been put forward 
in explanation of their visits. A very plausible one is, that they come 
along in the course of the gulf stream till they meet the western coasts 
of the British Isles ) and that this is why the fishing grounds about the 
Outer Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland are so often overrun by them. 
Some seasons they seem to approach Shetland from the deep water to the 
northwest of Unst and Yell ; at other times they appear first about Orkney 
and the progress of the shoal northeastwards may then be clearly traced 
by fishermen, and their arrival anticipated. 
The spring cod and ling fishing suffers at times from their ravages, 
but their visits are most frequent during the early herring fishing in June 
and July — just when they are least welcome. They are often so plentiful 
at that season that fishermen may sail for miles and find the sea swarming 
with them everywhere. It has now come to be understood that if dog- 
fish appear in large numbers on the coast, fishermen will be allowed to 
get quit of their engagements and leave the district, as persistent fishing 
in such circumstances would only ruin them without doing any good to 
the curers. 
As the summer advances the shoal often spreads southwards along the 
east side of the islands, and becomes equally troublesome during the 
autumn herring fishing, of which Lerwick is the centre. 
From the fact that winter fishing is confined pretty much to land- 
locked waters in Shetland, the movements of the dog-fish shoals are not 
so clearly defined after the close of the herring fishing. It is believed 
that some seasons they remain off and on about the islands all the year 
round ; but usually they disappear from the coast when the cold weather 
sets in, very few being then seen by the haddock fishers. 
Cuttle-fish. — Cuttle-fish are another pest from which Shetland fishermen 
often suffer a great deal. They abound in the waters around these islands, 
and are often very troublesome during the herring fishing season, though 
they do not destroy the nets as dog-fish do. They fasten upon the back: 
of the herring after it has been meshed in the net, and with their parrot-like 
beaks pick out the best part of the fish. In 1 886 they swarmed about 
the islands all summer, and practically caused a failure of the autumn 
herring fishing along the north and east coasts, crews that had set nets 
in their vicinity usually bringing ashore more broken than sound herrings. 
During a gale in September of that year, tons of cuttle-fish were cast 
ashore on the beaches to the southwards of Lerwick, thus providing a 
feast for the gulls for many a day. 
Cuttles readily attack haddocks and other fish when they find them 
hooked upon lines ; but by line fishermen they are not looked upon as an 
unmitigated evil, on account of their value as bait. Towards the end of 
the year they often come into Lerwick Harbour in shoals, and may be 
frequently seen swimming near the piers, attracted very likely by the 
'siliocks' that frequent the sound. Numbers of them are then caught 
by the fishermen, to be used for bait, the mode of capture being as 
follows : — Several large hooks are fastened to tbe end of a rod, which is 
let down into the water with a ' sillock ' suspended above the hooks. 
When the cuttle, or ' skeetick,' as it is locally termed, seizes this bait, 
an upward motion of the rod impales it upon the hooks. 
Their value as a bait seems to be derived chiefly from the brilliant 
phosphoric light that shines about their bodies in the dark. This is 
particularly noticeable about their eyes, which are large and very expres- 
sive. In the transparent water about Shetland they can be seen at a 
great depth. When being hauled up on a line, and spinning round in 
its efforts to escape, the cuttle's eyes are never for a moment taken off its 
