Marine Biological Research 1

Abstract

THE annual report on the investigations carried on during 1914–15 by Prof. A. Meek and his colleagues contains papers of general interest. Mr. Storrow writes on several faunistic records, and Mr. T. Bentham contributes a note on what appears to be a new hæmogregarine from the skate. The purely fishery investigations consist of an account, by Prof. Meek, of the migrations of the grey gurnard. The eggs and pelagic larvae of this fish drift passively inshore towards the Northumberland coast with the general set of the current, and with increasing size they then mote offshore. The migrations are correlated with the direction of the movements of the water, but it is more probable that the seasonal variation of temperature is a more important factor. Study of the general direction and the annual shifting of the isotherms would bring out this relationship. Prof. Meek also writes on the migrations of the dab. Mr. Storrow has accounts of the age and rate of growth of herrings and pilchards taken off the coast of Northumberland. The herring investigations form part of the general scheme of biometric research carried on by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, but only data referring to the age of the fishes, as determined by a study of the scale-markings, are discussed in this report.