HALIBUT ; FLAT-FISH AND FLOUNDER . 
3i3 
July he was again on Quereau Bank, where he found a school of small and 
big male and female fish, all, apparently, spawning, or ready to spawn, 
“with milt and pees soft”; in August he was on the outer part of Sable 
Island, where he found females full of spawn. 
Capt. Ashby, speaking of the Halibut on George’s Banks, states that 
roe is always found in them in May and June. The roes of a large Hali¬ 
but caught by him in 1848 on the southwest part of George’s, and which 
weighed 356 pounds, after it had been dressed and its head removed, 
weighed 44 pounds. He states that the Halibut in this region have spawn 
in them as long as Connecticut vessels continue to catch them, or until 
.September. He has seen eggs in Halibut of twenty pounds’ weight, and 
thinks that they begin to breed at that size. The spawn of the Halibut 
is a favorite food of the fishermen of Southern New England, though never 
eaten by those of Cape Ann. 
Capt. Hurlbert, of Gloucester, tells me that on the Grand Banks of 
Newfoundland the Halibut school used to come up in shoal water, in forty 
or fifty fathoms, in summer and that the spawn was ripest about a fort¬ 
night later. In August, 1878, he found many with the spawn already run 
out. At thajt time several Gloucester fishermen reported that the Halibut 
on Le Have and Quereau Banks were full of spawn. Capt. Collins 
told me that in July and August, and up to the first of September, they are 
found here with the ovaries very large, and are often seen with the ova and 
milt exuding. The ovaries of a large fish are too heavy to be lifted by a 
man, without considerable exertion, being often two feet or more in length. 
At this time very little food is found in their stomachs. In September, 
1878, the Fish Commission obtained from Capt. Collins the roes of a 
fish weighing from 190 to 200 pounds, taken by the schooner “Marion” 
on the 13th of the month on Quereau Bank. This fish was taken at the 
depth of 200 fathoms, and the temperature of the water was roughly re¬ 
corded at 36° F. These ovaries were put into a basket with ice and brought 
to the laboratory of the Fish Commission, where they were found to weigh 
seventeen pounds, two ounces. Part of the eggs were nearly ripe, and 
separated readily, while others were immature and closely adherent to each 
other. A portion of the roe, representing a fair average of the size of the 
eggs, was weighed and was found to contain 2,185 eggs; the weight of 
this portion was two drams. The total number of eggs was from this es¬ 
timated to be 2,182,773. It n °t yet known whether the eggs float or 
