The Zoogeography of Some Fishes in Irish Waters

Abstract

Some thirty years ago the then Fisheries Branch of the Department of Agriculture decided to give rewards for specimens of rare or interesting species of fish sent for examination. This, coupled with the enlightened attitude of Irish fishermen to their catches in recent years, has provided valuable information about the rarer species of fishes found in Irish waters. Even so information is still lacking on many species because normal fishing methods are not really geared to their capture. This is so with many of the smaller members of the fish fauna, and, particularly, those which live in rocky areas where normal fishing is not practised. The advent of skin-diving, however, is likely to improve knowledge of many such species, so that in the near future it may be necessary to revise drastically current views as to the abundance and distribution of many such species of fishes known to frequent Irish waters.