Page:VCH Cornwall 1.djvu/352

 A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 82. Shanny. Blennius pholis, Linn. Common in rock pools and under stones between tide marks. 83. Crested Blenny. Carelopbus ascanii, Walb. According to R. Couch has been frequently obtained, but is rare in Mount's Bay, Cornish having recorded the first at Penzance in 1878. 84. Butterfish or Gunnel. Centronotus gun- nellus, Bl. Schn. Common between tide marks. 85. Red Band-fish. Cepola rubescens. Linn. Mr. Dunn recorded it from Mevagissey. 86. Angler, Fishing Frog, Monk-fish, or Sea Devil. Lophlus piscatorius, Linn. Common. The spawn is shed in a gela- tinous band. The writer has seen some of this spawn brought up on to the deck of a trawler off the Wolf Rock, and Mr. Dunn obtained a band which was floating at the surface off Mevagissey and sent it to the Ply- mouth Laboratory. ANACANTHINI 87. Cod. Gadus morrhua, Linn. Plentiful and of good size, but usually somewhat smaller and inferior in flavour to those of the North Sea. 88. Haddock. Gadus teg/efinus, Linn. At present haddock are rare off the Cornish coast. I have not paid particular attention to the point, but if caught at all only single specimens are taken occasionally. Mr. Dunn stated that they were plentiful off Mevagissey until 1870, in weight up to 1 2 lb., but en- tirely left the coast in that year. R. Couch observed that they spawned in Cornwall. 89. Bib, Pout, Whiting-pout. Gadus luscus, Linn. Abundant. These fish are often called blens or blinds in Cornwall from the peculiar bulging of the opaque cornea of the large eyes after death. 90. Power or Poor Cod. Gadus minutus, Linn. Equally common with the bib. 91. Whiting. Gadus merlangus, Linn. Abundant, taken by hand lines and also by the trawlers. 92. Poutassou. Gadus poutassou, Risso. Mr. Couch obtained a specimen at Pol- perro in 1 840. According to Matthias Dunn young poutassou were abundant in the neigh- bourhood of Mevagissey in 1861, 1871 and 1881. 93. Coal-fish. Gadus virens, Linn. In Cornwall this fish is known as the raun- ing pollack, which appears to mean ravenous pollack. It is often more common than the true pollack, and is of large size. Many are landed by the long-liners at Polperro, and I have caught fine specimens off the Runnel- stone Buoy near the Land's End. 94. Pollack. Gadus pottacbius, Linn. Common ; caught by the long-lines, and also by amateurs by whiffing and other methods. 95. Norway Pout. Gadus esmartii, Nilsson. Mr. Matthias Dunn obtained specimens of a Gadus unknown to him from the stomach of a pollack caught in a trawl 40 miles north- west of St. Ives. Two of the specimens were sent to the Plymouth Laboratory in 1897 a "d identified by Mr. Holt as G. esmarkii (Journ. M.B.A. v. 79). The species had been previously found off the west coast of Scotland and the west coast of Ireland at depths between 26 and 144 fathoms. In August 1 900 Mr. Garstang identified a speci- men taken in a ground seine between Saltash and the Lynher river. This specimen was about 7 inches long. 96. Hake. Merlucius vu/garis, Cuv. A characteristic Cornish fish, but accounts agree in stating that it is much scarcer now, especially in inshore waters, than it used to be. It is a fish which ranges to deep water, and the steam trawlers landing at Plymouth and Milford Haven catch very large numbers at the mouth of the English Channel, and even in the Bay of Biscay. 97. Greater Fork-beard. Bl. Schn. Phycis blennioideS) J. Couch considered this species rather common in Cornwall, but Mr. Cornish states that it is rare ; he obtained one at Penzance in 1864 and one at the Land's End in 1870. In 1873 one was taken in a herring net at Looe. In 1892 one was received at Ply- mouth caught on a whiting hook 5 miles from shore, and according to Holt one has been trawled in Cawsand Bay. 98. Ling. Molva vulgaris, Flem. Common ; numbers of large specimens are caught by the long-lines at Polperro and elsewhere. 300