4 88 



Suborder Heterosomata 



brill, Bothus rhombus, is a common fish of southern Europe, 

 deep-bodied and covered with smooth scales. 



Very similar but much smaller in size is the half translu- 

 cent speckled flounder of our Atlantic coast (Lophopsetta macu- 

 lata), popularly known as window-pane. This species is too 

 small to have much value as food. Another species, similar 

 to the brill in technical characters but very different in appear- 

 ance, is the turbot, Scophthalmus maximus, of Europe. This 

 large flounder has a very broad body, scaleless but covered 

 with warty tubercles. It reaches a weight of seventy pounds and 

 has a high value as a food-fish. There is but one species of tur- 

 bot and it is found in Europe only, on sandy bottoms from 



FIG. 435. Wide-eyed Flounder, Syacium papillosum Linnaeus. Pensacola, Fla. 



Norway to Italy. In a turbot of twenty-three pounds weight 

 Buckland found a roe of five pounds nine ounces, with 14,31 1,260 

 eggs. The young retains its symmetrical condition for a relatively 

 long period. No true turbot is found in America and none in 

 the Pacific. Other European flounders allied to the turbot and 

 brill are Zeugopterus punctatus; the European whiff, Lepido- 

 rhombus whiff -jagonis; the topknot, Phrynorhombus regius; the 

 lantern-flounder, Arnoglossus laterna, and the tongue-fish, Euci- 

 tharus linguatula, the last two of small size and feeble flesh. 



In the wide-eyed or peacock flounders, Plato phrys podas in 

 Europe, Platophrys lunatus, etc., in America, Platophrys mancus 

 in Polynesia, the eyes in the old males are very far apart, 

 and the changes due to age and sex are greater than in any 

 other genera. The species of this group are highly variegated 

 and lie on the sand in the tropical seas. Numerous small 



