396 



.SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



J);mish Plaice fishei'y within the Skaw, during the 

 year 1885, was valued at 836,881 crowns (£46,493)". 

 According to v. Yhlen'' about 2 million Plaice, of a 

 value of 133,000 crowns (£7,390), were taken in 1879 

 off the coast of Bohuslan. At the Skaw large quanti- 

 ties of Plaice are taken and conveyed thence to Gothen- 

 burg, where they are, therefore, kiujwn as skavskiiddor 

 or skaboskaddor. According to A. W. Malii the Plaice 

 is "common along the coast of Bohuslan, where it 

 generally keeps to a, bottom of tirni sand, at a depth 

 of 10 — 14 fthms., and prefers spots close in shore or 

 at the edge of the c/utters between islands and islets, 

 where there is usually a strong current in some di- 

 rection or other." The larger specimens, which are 

 found even in the Sound, are known 1)y the Danish 

 fishermen as prcesteflyndre (Priest-flounders, i. e. fit for 

 a- priest's table) or liansingey. Man}' of them are now 

 sent, togetlier with Plaice of ordinary size, by rail to 

 Stockholm, where they are known in the market as 

 kmifisfliDulror (King's Flounders). Faber regarded these 

 King's Flounders as a distinct species {Pleuronectes 

 horealis), while Gottsciie took them to be a special 

 variety of the Plaice. The King's Flouitder is said to 

 be distinguished by the light ring round the red spots, 

 most distinct on the dorsal and anal fins, the usually 

 hidden anal spine, and a number of characters which 

 we have noticed aljove as retrogressions to the juvenile 

 tvpe. But the irregularity in the appearance of these 

 characters, the transitions to the common Plaice, and 

 finally the fact that no young King's Flounders have 

 ever been found, induced both Nilsson and Kroyer 

 to declare that the King's Flounder is nothing more 

 than an old, overgrown stage of this species. 



In the North Sea the Plaice is — or at least has 

 been — still more common and still more remunerative 

 to the fislierman than in the Cattegat and Skager Rack. 

 An imi)ortant fishery for this sj)ecies is also pui'sued 

 in tlie English Channel and the Irish Sea. After the 

 great strides that tlie trawl-fishery has made in later 

 years, complaints may be heard in most places that 



the Plaice, like other Flatfishes, has become consider- 

 ably rarer; but as recently as 1888 the statistical re- 

 ports sho-^v' that during this year Plaice were imported 

 into England and Wales to a value of £614,585. On 

 the coast of Iceland the Plaice is also found and seems 

 to be by no means rare; but it is unknown in Green- 

 land and on the east coast of North America. 



For the purposes of the table the Plaice is regarded 

 as one of the best of the Flatfishes. It comes next to the 

 Sole and tlie Turbot, or, in the opinion of many, a little 

 lower, next to the Halibut; and its abundance places it 

 Avithin the reach even of the poor. In London especially 

 it is consumed in large cjuantities'; but in other large 

 towns as well, Copenhagen and Hamburg for example, 

 it is one of the most important fishes in the market. 

 Its flesh is white and fii-m, and is best when fried. 

 During the spawning-season — -winter and spring'' — 

 its flesh is rather flabby; but, as great numbers of 

 Plaice spawn at different times, specimens fit for table 

 may be procured even during this period. 



Like the rest of the Flatfishes the Plaice generally 

 leads a sluggish life, hidden in the sand, where it 

 speedily covers itself with a few strokes of its fins, so 

 completely that only the head or even only the snout 

 and the mobile eyes are in sight. However, it is not 

 at all destitute of the power of motion, and at need 

 is one of the swiftest of fishes. "In October, 1869," 

 says Buckland'^, "I witnessed the drawing of a seine 

 net opposite our oyster fishery at Reculvers, near Heme 

 Bay, Kent, when a considerable number of plaice were 

 caught; but just as the net arrived at the edge of the 

 waves it "rolled," and nearly all the plaice escaped. 

 A fisherman cried, "Look out, they'll sand!" a capital 

 expression, for I found that the fish sunk into the sand 

 with sucli rapidity that the operation must be seen to 

 be believed. The plaice lifts up its head and the upper 

 tliird of its body and then brings it down on the sand 

 three or four times Avith sharp, quick raps; a^ small 

 cavity is thus made in the soft, wet sand, which at 

 once fills with water; the fish then works its fins on 



« Ibid., p. 82. 



'' Not. ilb. die Scliwed. Fischereien, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Swedish Department, Fisheries Exhibition Berlin, 1880. 



"^ Fish. Trades Gazette, vol. VI, No. 295 (12th Jan., 1889), p. 8. The catch of Plaice in Scotland and Ireland is not included 

 here. It is summed up in the tables with the catch of other fishes. 



'' Cf. HOLDSWORTH, Deep Sea Fishing, p. 17. 



' Among some Plaice from Gothenburg that were purchased here in Stockholm at the lieginning of May, 1889, some had not yet 

 begiui to spawn and were of excellent flavour, while others were new-run and hardly tit to eat. 



/ Nat. Jfi-'t. Ilrit. Fishes, p. 180. 



