THE FLAT-FISH. 391 



are the main characters of this common and important 

 fish, which grows to a weight of over lo lbs., though the 

 fish trawled nowadays in the home waters average nearer 

 2 lbs. The teeth are fiat, enabling the plaice to crush the 

 shellfish on which it feeds ; these teeth are more developed 

 on the left, or "blind," side, and the mouth is of small 

 size and situated at the end of the snout. The plaice is 

 found in brackish waters. I have caught large numbers 

 in the estuaries of rivers running into the Baltic, a sea 

 that is itself little more than brackish ; and Seeley ^ men- 

 tions its occurrence in some rivers in the south of Spain. 

 The plaice spawns between January and March ; its eggs 

 are large, and float at the surface. The young, as those of 

 all the flat-fish, swim in their earliest stage like those of 

 " round " fish, the eyes being on either side of the head, 

 until, in the course of a few weeks, the left eye works 

 round or through the margin of the head, taking its place 

 beside the other, and leaving only a minute black dot 

 to indicate its former position. By this time the little 

 fish has taken to the bottom, and swims on its side, the 

 twist in the head, which brings the dorsal fin along the 

 line of the face, being simultaneous. 



In the smaller Dab we have a rough-skinned fish of 

 light-brown hue with dark spots. It is found, often 

 Dab or in brackish estuaries, on every part of our 



Smear Dab. coasts, where it spawns 'in April or May. Its 

 food seems to be almost confined to small crustaceans. 



The Flounder may be regarded as a sea-fish that has made 

 its way up rivers or taken to a partially fresh- water habitat. 

 Flounder According to Cunningham,^ it does not shed 

 or Fluke. j^g spawn in fresh water, invariably returning 

 to the sea to breed. He alludes to a curious belief current 

 among the fishermen, to the effect that the flounder carries 



1 Fresh-water Fishes of Europe, p. 88. 

 - Marketable Marine Fishes, p. 229. • 



