THE FLAT-FISHES 241 



habit, to which writers on the subject have in no case drawn 

 attention, is their extreme cautiousness when taking a bait, 

 particularly in shallow water. It is open to any one to see 

 this for himself, and such a pier as that at Bournemouth 

 affords the opportunity any fine day in summer. The writer 

 has frequently made the experiment by offering a hook not 

 quite concealed in the bait (mussel or lugworm) to a small 

 plaice or dab lying in the sand, only its eyes and mouth 

 protruding, and plainly seen through the 2 fathoms of clear 

 water. The fish would take the hook just inside its small and 

 twisted mouth, but would at once blow it out again, sending 

 up the sand in a cloud around the rejected morsel. After 

 allowing a little time to elapse, the hook, properly hidden 

 this time in the bait, would again be presented, and this 

 time it was retained. As there is no object in catching 

 these very small flat-fish, it may be mentioned that the 

 experiment loses none of its interest if the barb be first filed 

 off the hook, so that the fish, when caught, can be shaken off 

 in the water, none the worse for its fright. 



Another point in these flat-fish which must strike every 

 angler is their great vitality beside such round fish as the bass 

 or herring. Some years ago, as already mentioned, the writer 

 used to catch large numbers of plaice and dabs with rod and 

 line in the Baltic, from the piers at Warnemiinde or from 

 boats a short distance from land. He lived at the time at 

 Rostock, about half an hour's journey by train, and on re- 

 turning after the day's fishing, all the fish that had been caught 

 during the last hour's fishing were alive and breathing, the 

 moisture from their companions doubtless providing them 

 with sufficient absorbed air. A pilchard, on the other hand, a 

 sand-smelt, or even a small bass, is dead within a few minutes 

 of capture, being apparently unable to close its gill-covers so 

 tightly as the flat-fish, which thereby escape suffocation. 



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