.•!76 



.SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



enters the Sound, though there, ;is well ;is in the Belts, it 

 is one of the rarer Flatfishes (Wintheh). In the south of 

 the Baltic off' Al)ekas, it is sometimes taken in autumn, 



In habits the Sole essentially resembles the rest of 

 the Flatfishes. It is really a salt-water fish; but like 

 man-^- other members of its family it often makes its 



in Eel-pots, according to Nilsson. On the German side [ wa}- into fresh water, where it is even capable of breed- 

 it is taken, though also seldom, as far as the coast of ing, according to statements from England. Yarrkll 

 Mecklenburg (Mob., Hckk). Higher up the Baltic we states, on the authority of a letter from one of his cor- 

 have no authenticated instance of its occurrence, though respondents, that tlie Sole frequents the river Aruii from 



it is bv no means averse to Ijrackisii or fresh Avater. Ac- 

 cording to CoM.KTT its I'ange on the coast of Norway is 

 not known to extend further nortli than Stadt, in Lat. 

 62° N. In Scandinavia, however, oidy individual speci- 

 mens are takt'ii, and the species never occurs in shoals". 

 The fishermen too, often confuse it with Brepanopsetfa 

 platessoides, Avhich in some localities is called fiiuffa. Off 

 the Skaw it is more common than in Sweden; and most 

 of file Soles brought to Gothenburg are said t(j come 

 from the Skaw (Malji). Even there, liowever, the Sole- 

 fishery is far less important than it is farther south. 

 Tlie fishermen of Fredrikshavn, in Kuoyer's time, about 

 1840, used generally to liaiid over their catch of soles to 

 tlie dealers without payment, as a kind of return for the 

 spirits and tobacco given them when they came on board 

 to deliver their fish; and the Sole and some other species 

 were, therefore, comprised under the name of hrandy-fish. 

 F.ven in the vicinity of Fredrikshavn, however, the trade 

 in hsh is now carried oti on far different pi-inciples; and 

 the Danish fisherv in the Cattegat, inside the Skaw, in 

 18H.") for example, produced Soles to a value of £4,430 

 (79,788 crowns)''. This sum is infinitesimally small, how- 

 ever, in comparison with the results of the Sole fishery 

 in the North Sea and on the coasts of Great Britain. Ac- 

 coi'ding to the statistical reports for the year 1888 the 

 Sole fishery of England and Wales" produced fish to a 

 weight of 72,826 cwt. and a value of £378,538. The 

 catch for the same year in Scotland' was 12,664 cwt., of 

 a value of €l(),.")12, and in Ireland 3,731 cwt., of a 

 \alue of £l 1,383. Thus, the total value of the Sole- 

 fisheries of Great Britain and Ireland for the vear 1888 

 was £406,433. The geograpliical range of the Sole 

 also extends into the Mediterranean and the Adriatic: 

 off' Venice it is very connnon, according to Ninni'. 



the mouth hve miles upwards, and remains there the 

 whole vear. "It is evident they breed in great numbers 

 in the river from the ((uaiititv of small ones about two 

 inches long that are constantly brought on shore when 

 drawing the net for Grey Mullet." The Soles that live 

 in fresh water, are also stated to be thicker (more fleshy) 

 than those from the sea. 



Durinii' summer the Sole lives in water of a moder- 

 ate depth, on a sandv or stony bottom, l)ut in \\inter 

 it retires to deeper water, and does so earlier than the 

 rest of the Scandinavian Flatfishes. "When the winter 

 season comes on," says Buckland, "the soles in the North 

 Sea take up their winter quarters (probably for hybern- 

 ating purposes) in very deep -water. The chief I'esort 

 of soles in the ^vinter months is the Silver Pits, a very 

 extensive piece of deep water situated between the Dog- 

 ger Bank and the Well Bank. The greatest depth is to be 

 found at the west end, where there is fifty-six fathoms of 

 water, i. e. 134 feet higher than the Monument. The 

 soundings brought up from liere resemble biscuit dust. 

 The Silver Pits (first discovered, I believe, in 1843) are so 

 called on account of the large quantity offish wliich wei-e 

 caught when the pits were first discovered. Soles massed 

 themselves together in these pits in a wondrous way, 

 and fiibulous stories are told of the sole fishery tiiere'." 



According to the statements of the fishermen, the 

 spawning-season of the Sole occurs during the summer 

 months, at the end of May or beginning of June. Its 

 food is composed chiefly of small crustaceans, mollusks 

 and fishes. It is also said to devour the roe of other 

 fishes. 



In Scandinavia the Sole is generally caught with 

 other F'latfish in nets shot for Plaice. On rare oc- 

 casions it is taken on the hook. The larae catches in 



" KitOYKii states, liowever, that al lliu lieginniiig of this century three boats frciii Gilleleje, whicli had slict tlieir nets off Hcssclo, 

 north of Zealand, took 1,C00 Soles at one liavil. 



'■ Uansk FiskeriselskabB Medleinsblad, 10:e Juiii, 1880, |i. 82. 



'■ Fish Trades Gazette, vol. VI, No. 29r>. p. 8. 



'' Ibid., No. 207, p. 8. In this total, however, the Lemon Sole, a closely related, but less valuable species, is included. 



<■ Espos. Intern, di I'esca in Berlino 1880, Scz. Ital., Cat., p. 180. 



'' Cf. loo IIoijiswoi:iMi, Decp-Sea Fit^lihi;/ and Fishimj lloaU, London 1874, p. 04. 



