Abstract
IN NATURE for Nov. 8 (p. 35) mention is made of the travels of some drift-bottles in the south seas. It maybe of interest to put on record the results so far obtained of the distribution of bottles set free by the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee in order to get further information in regard to those currents in the Irish Sea which would affect small floating bodies. The objects we have had in view are: (1) A purely scientific matter, the source and distribution of the plankton; and (2) the probably utilitarian object of determining the movements of the food of fishes, and so one of the causes of their migrations, and also the drift of the floating ova and embryos of food fishes. The tidal currents of the area in question are to a considerable extent known, and marked on the charts and given in books on “Sailing Directions” but to these currents have to be added the modifying influence of prevalent winds, and what we want to get at is the resulting average effect. We want to know in what direction an object set floating at any spot will probably be carried at various times of the year in ordinary weather. The surface organisms are such feeble swimmers, if locomotory at all, that any results obtained from small floating bottles may reasonably enough be regarded as holding good for the plankton.
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HERDMAN, W. Drift-Bottles in the Irish Sea. Nature 51, 151 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/051151a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051151a0
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