Museum AND Art Notes 105

The Pilchard and Its Assoctates

By H. Cuas, Wiiiiamson, D.Sc., F.R.S.E., Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, B.C.

([llustrated with original drawings)

he

taken on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, and, as certain of these fishes
are not very well known, it has appeared advisable to illustrate some of the
more uncommon which have come under the writer’s notice.

A VUMBER of species of fish are from time to time found among the pilchards,

As a rule the school of pilchards is a pure one and it is noteworthy for the even
size of the fishes composing it. The pilchards are, generally speaking, all adult, and
they measure 8% to 13 inches in length from the tip of the snout to the middle of the
fork of the tail; very occasionally smaller pilchards are met with. While, then, the
catch of pilchards, unlike that of the herrings in the winter, is uniform, and in most
cases includes no other species of fish, it at times includes other fish. One which is
of fairly common occurrence is the mackerel. This fish is of very similar appearance
to the Atlantic mackerel, and it has been regarded by some as of equal eating quality.
It is, however, classed as a different species. The mackerel may be represented by
an odd fish among the pilchards, or they may form a considerable proportion, for
example, 25 per cent. of the catch. This year mackerel were common at the end of
June, when the first catches of pilchards were made off Clayoquot Sound. It was
observed that they were more abundant 15 to 25 miles off than they were within five
miles of the land. One seiner set on what he thought were pilchards, and he made a
haul of five tons of mackerel. These fish had big roes and appeared to be not far off
spawning. By the middle of July the numbers of mackerel among the pilchards caught
near shore had much decreased.

The pilchards with which the mackerel were associated were very wild and diffi-
cult to catch, and it was suggested that the mackerel were chasing the pilchards and
rendering them nervous and wild. But pilchards are wild at other times; it does not
seem likely that the mackerel disturbed the pilchards; the probability is that the
mackerel and pilchards were associated through their feeding at the time on the same
form of food.

Some fishermen think that the pilchard shoal acts under a leader and that he
must be captured if the shoal is to be taken; a mackerel, it is thought, may act as a
leader. Mackerel are swift swimmers and they would no doubt set the pace for the
pilchard shoal.

One must picture the pilchards in the sea as ever exposed to the attack of sharks,
salmon and dogfish, which will harry them at every opportunity, and are thus liable
to be captured with the pilchards. Dogfish have been seen swimming round a small