A Contribution to Our Knowledge of the Life-Histories of the Dogfishes Landed at Plymouth

Abstract

In view of the fact that dogfishes are now of undoubted importance as marketable food fishes, it is necessary that the life-history of each of the species concerned should receive closer attention than hitherto. The present publication is the result of an endeavour to gain a personal working knowledge of the general life-history of the species which are landed at Plymouth. In carrying out a scheme of work of this kind it is certain that many of the observations made will have already been carried out previously by other workers, but, nevertheless, the results obtained are of value, not only in regard to the degree of confirmation which they afford, but also in the building up of an account of the life-history under the local conditions. In some instances, too, it will be seen that the actual numeric results in themselves are of little statistical value, but they yield very interesting suggestions which may be confirmed or disproved by a repetition of the experiments on a larger scale. I express my thanks to the fish-buyers at Plymouth fish-market, particularly Mr. J. Vanstone, for their kindness in allowing me to handle their fish before dispatch, and for their assistance in obtaining a regular supply of material for many months.