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WHITEBAIT
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WHITEBAIT , the See also:vernacular name of the small See also:fish which appears in large shoals in the See also:estuary of the See also:Thames during the summer months, and is held in See also:great esteem as a delicacy for the table. Formerly whitebait was supposed to be a distinct See also:species of fish. T. See also:Pennant and G. See also:Shaw believed it to be some See also:kind of Cyprinoid fish, similar to the See also:bleak, whilst E. See also:Donovan, in his Natural See also:History of See also:British Fishes (1802–1808), misled by specimens sent to him as whitebait, declared it to be the See also:young of the See also:shad. In r82o W. Yarreli proved conclusively that Donovan's See also:opinion was founded upon an See also:error; unfortunately he contented himself with comparing whitebait with the shad only, and in the end adopted the opinion of the Thames fishermen, whose See also:interest it was to represent it as a distinct adult See also:form; thus the whitebait is introduced into See also:Yarrell's History of British Fishes (1836) as Clu See also:pea See also:alba. The See also:French ichthyologist See also:Valenciennes went a step farther, declaring it to be not only specifically but also generically distinct from all other Clupeoids. It is now known to consist of the young See also:fry of See also:herrings and sprats in varying proportions mixed with a few shrimps, gobies, stickle-backs, See also:pope-fishes and young flounders: but these impurities are as far as possible picked out from the whitebait before it is
marketed. The fishing is carried on from See also:February to See also:August, and samples taken in the successive months were found to contain the following percentages of herrings, the See also:remainder
being young sprats: 7, 5, 14, 30, 87, 75, 52. Hence it will be seen that sprats predominated in February, See also: There is See also:reason to believe that these young herrings are derived from a See also:local " See also:winter " See also:race spawning about February and March, and having nothing to do with the great shoals of the more open See also:sea spawning in the See also:North Sea in See also:November. The Thames being unequal to the See also:supply of the large demand for this delicacy, large quantities of whitebait are now brought to See also:London and other markets from many parts of the See also:coast. In times past whitebait were considered to be See also:peculiar to the estuary of the Thames; and, even after the specific See also:identification of Thames whitebait with the young of the See also:herring and See also:sprat, it was still thought that there was a distinctive superiority in its See also:condition and flavour. It is possible that the young fish find in the estuary of the Thames a larger amount of suitable See also:food than on other parts of the coast, where the See also:water may be of greater purity, but possesses less abundance of the See also:minute See also:animal See also:life on which whitebait thrive. Indeed, Thames whitebait which have been compared with that from the mouth of the Exe, the Cornish coast, Menai Strait, and the See also:Firth of Forth seemed to be better fed; but, of course, the specific characteristics of the herring and sprat—into which we need not enter here—were nowise modified. The fry of fishes is used as an See also:article of See also:diet in almost every See also:country: in See also:Germany the young of various species of Cyprinoids, in See also:Italy and See also:Japan the young of nearly every fish capable of being readily captured in sufficient See also:numbers, in the See also:South Sea Islands the fry of Teuthis, in New See also:Zealand young Galaxias are consumed at certain seasons in large quantities; and, like whitebait, these fry See also:bear distinct names, different from those of the adult fish. Whitebait are caught on the See also:flood-See also:tide from boats moored in from 3 to 5 fathoms of water. The See also:net used is a bag some 20 ft. See also:long, narrow and small-See also:meshed towards the tail end, the mouth being kept open in the direction of the advancing tide by a framework 3 or 4 ft. square. It is placed alongside the See also:boat and sunk to a See also:depth of 4 ft. below the See also:surface; from See also:time to time the end of the bag is lifted into the boat, to empty it of its contents. The " See also:schools' of whitebait advancing and retiring with the tide for days, and probably for See also:weeks, have to run the See also:gauntlet of a dozen of these nets, and therefore get very much thinned in number by the end of the See also:season. When the view commenced to gain ground that whitebait were largely young herring, the question arose whether or not the immense destruction of the young brood caused by this mode of fishing injuriously affected the See also:fishery of the mature herring. This perhaps it does; but, since it has been ascertained that the herring is much more restricted in its migrations than was formerly believed, and that the shoals are to a great extent local, the injury, such as it is, must be local and limited to the particular See also:district in which the fishing for whitebait is methodically practised. Similar reasoning applies to sprats. (J. T. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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