372 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



Genus SOLEA. 



Body elUpfical and, with the exception of the lilind side of the >i)ioi(t, entiielij eorered icith tmuill ctenoid scales, 

 continued over the vertical fins, ichich are separate from each otlier. Anal fin without the anal spine. Commence- 

 ment of the dorsal fin on the snout. Ei/es, as a rule, on the right side of the hody, the upper (transferred) eye 

 heiny situated farther fortvard than the lower. Tip of the snout round and curviuy only sliyhthj over the tip of 

 the lower jaw (forininy no recurred hook). No vomerine or palatine teeth. Lateral line on each side of the hody 



simple and usually straiyht. 



With tliis limitation — based on GCnthek's opinion 



— the genus Solea comprises about 40 species from tlie 

 tropical and the north temperate seas, and shows con- 

 siderable variety of form. The form varies from oblong 

 (tongue-shaped) to broad elliptical, witli perfect and 

 well-developed pectoral tins on both sides or with these 

 tins reduced — either on the blind side or on both 



— and with the ventral tins both entirely free from the 

 anal tin or with the ventral tin of the eye side united 

 by a membrane to the tirst ray of that fin. It has, 

 therefore, l)een ])roposed to divide the genus into several 

 subgenera, which still pass into each other through 



intermediate forms, (hie of these proposed subgenera, 

 in which the Sole, the type of the genus, is included, 

 is characterized by the oblong body, the depth of which 

 measures at most "/s o^ the length to the base of the 

 caudal tin, the well-developed pectoral aiid ventral fins, 

 of almost e(|ua.l size on both sides of the body and 

 Avith the raj's covered for at least half their length by 

 the scales, the entire freedom of the ventral fins from 

 the anal fin, and the straightness of the lateral line 

 behind the head. This subgenus would contain only 

 a feAv species from the east of the Atlantic and the 

 Mediteri'anean. 



THE SOLE (sw. tungan). 

 SOLEA VULGARIS. 



Plate XX, fig. 2. 



Depth of the body greatest in the females, least in the males and young specimens, and varyiny betu-een about 

 SO" and 35 % of the lenyth thereof. Length of the head greatest in the females, and varyiny between about 16 

 and 19 % of that of the body. Lenyth of the pectorcd fins greatest in the mcdes, only sliyhtly less on the blind 

 side than on the eye side, and varyiny betu-een about S3 and 40 % of that of the head. T^enyth of the ventral 

 fins in proportion to that of the body about the same in the males and femcdes, and varyiny betu-een about 26 

 and 28 % of that of the head. Nostrils of the eye side set close beside each other and near the margin of the 

 upper lip, the anterior tabular a)i(l the posterior sunk in close to the lower eye. Nostrils of the blind side far 

 apart, the anterior tumid and conical — witltOKt wide openiny or fimbriic at the openiny — and set at about an 

 e<pial distance from the tip of the snout, the corner of the mouth or the posterior nostril, which is someu-hat 

 farther from tJie corner <f the nundh and just behind tlic perpendicular therefrom. 



R. br. 7(0 — 8); /). 70 — 84*; A. 54-67'; P. 1 + 6 1. 7 1. 8; 

 V. 6''; a. .(.•+14+.f; Llii. lot. ca 140'-; VeH. 10 + . Oil. 



Syu. BovyXioaaog, Athen., Bmjlossus, Rondel.; >'Sole<i, Oviu., Pi.in., 

 cett. viilfi Art. et BoNAi'. 



Pleiiroiicctes oblotigiis, maxilla superiore loiigiore, squaniis ulriu- 

 qiie asperis, Art., Gen., p. 18; Syii., p. 32; iSpec, p. 60; 

 LiN., Fn. Siiec, ed. I, p. 112, No. 299; It. ]V>jot., p. 178. 



Pleuronectea Solea, Lin., Syst. Nat., cd. X, toiii. I, p. 270; 

 NiLss., Proilr. fcliili. Scand.. p. 60; Sciiagerstr., Physiogr. 



" According to LlLLJElsonc, sometimes (in young specimens from the Mediterranean) 26 °i. 



'' Sometimes 87, according to Gottsche, or 97, according to Day. 



'■ Sometimes 73. according to Lli.i,.!., or 83, according to Day. 



'' 4 — 6, according to Kboyer. 



' 110 — 142, according to Steindachner; 160, according to GCntheu. Kroyeu counted about 130. 



