PI-AICK 



395 



at different spots, owing to certain peculiarities in its 

 ni.inncr of life. It spinvns iit the end of winter or 

 early in spring, at a, depth of three or four fathoms. 

 During summer the PL-iiee retire slowly from the s])awn- 

 ing-places to deeper ^viiter, ;ind during the gi'cater part 

 of the year they i-emain at a depth of 15 or IG fa- 

 thoms, where they pass tlie winter. If a piece of water 

 does not possess sufficiently wide stretches of this depth, 

 but onl}' contains small holes or consists chicH}' of 

 patches of sliallower water, here and in the adjoining 



fins are without spots. The iris is silvei'\' white, with a 

 narrow l)rassA' ring round the dark lilue ]>ui)il; hut this 

 ring usualh' vanishes some time after the death of the fish. 



Reversed specimens of the Plaice, as of the other 

 Flatfishes, occur sometimes, tliough not very often, with 

 the eyes and tlie colour on tlie left side. We may also 

 meet with doul)le specimens, with l)oth sides coloured 

 and sometimes -witli tlie cliaracteristic row oC hony pro- 

 tuberances repeated on the Idind side of the head, or 

 albinos, entirely or parth- white or golden like Goldfish, 

 but with handsome orange s]}ots (MoBius and Hkincke)". 



The Plaice occurs along the whole west coast of 

 Euro])e, from the extreme north down to the south of 

 France. As a])])ears too, from the list of synonyms, 

 we can find no specific difference between the Plaice 

 and the form from Alaska and Kamchatka described 

 by Pallas under the name of Fleitroiicctes qiiadri- 

 tifberculatiis and by Steixdachner under that of Pleiiro- 

 iiecfes Pallasii. A young Plaice from the White Sea 

 (fig. 109) corresponds, as far as we can judge, exactly 

 to this form, with the oidy exception that in Stein- 

 dachxek's figure, and also in a specimen taken by the 

 Vega Expedition in Port Clarence, the body is narroM^er 

 behind. Thus, the Plaice seems also to occur in the 

 basin of the Pacific. South of France we have no re- 

 corded instance of its occurrence in the Atlantic''; but 

 according to Giglioli, Professor Trois found two spe- 

 cimens ill the fisli-market of Venice, a circumstance 

 which apparenth" shows its occurrence in the Adriatic. 

 It also enters the Baltic. We have learnt from the lips 

 of Baron G. C. Cederstrom that it is caught some- 

 times, though extremely seldom, in the seine, oft" Ingaro 

 in the island-belt of Stockholm. According to Lixd- 

 STRUM (1. c.) it is occasionally taken in summer on the 

 coast of Gothland. According to Seidlitz'' it is in- 

 eluded by Kawall among the fishes of Courland; but | 



tlie statement is con.sidered doubtful, as well as Fischer's shallows the Plaice is always of rare occurrence, as for 

 account of its occurrence in the Gulf of Finland. In I example in the extensive reach of water along the 

 the south and west of the Baltic it is not uncommon, ; north coast of Fiinen." 



Fig. 109. Young Plaice from Archangel, forwarded to the Royal 

 Museum by Lieut. H. Sandeberg { = Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, 

 Pallas; Pleur. Giersii, Sandebekg). a and b, natural size; c, tlie 

 mouth, opened and magn. about G diam., to show the pointed jaw- 

 teeth of young specimens. 



and .still less so in the Sound and the Cattegat. "No- 

 where in Danish waters within the Skaw is the Plaice 

 entirely wanting," saj's Wixtiier, "but there is a con- 

 siderable difference in the frequency of its occurrence 



In the Cattegat the Plaice is fairly common. Oft" 

 Anholt, between February and August, 1885, 45,456 

 kgrm. of Plaice were taken by the fishermen from 

 Hornba?k (Zealand) alone''. The entire catch of the 



" A specimen of this variety, lemon-yellow, clouded with a darker colour at the middle of the body aud on the eye side of the jaws, 

 was caught on the west coast of Jutland in February, 1890, and sent to the Royal Museum by Mr. 0. Fredebicksen of Copenhagen. 



* Benecke (Handbuch d. Fischz. u. Fischer, Max v. d. Borne — p. 113) states, though without giving any authority for his stale 

 mcnt. that the Plaice occurs as far south as the coast of Portugal. 



"■ Fauna baltica, p. 118. 



'' Dansk Fiskeriselskabs Medleiusblad, 188G. p. 24. 



