I''LnrN])KR-FISllES. 



425 



distinct, darker s|)(its. When tlie tisli has Ix'cii sdiiu' 

 time out (if the water, the colour fades, and in the fisli- 

 inarl^ets we generally find this species of a li^ht larax. 

 The Idiud side is, as usual, wliite or liluish white. 



The Rough Dal) is l;iirl\- cDunnon thnniglKuit the 

 Oattegat, hut is not taken iu large uund)ers. It often 

 enters the Sound, and, according to Mobius and Heincke, 

 is of animal occurrence off Kiel, though it has never yet 

 been iouml in the Baltic |iro|iei' or e\en on tlie south 

 coast of Scania. From the lun-tli of the Sound and the 

 vicinity of Kullen it is l)rought everv spring with other 

 Flattishes and exposed for sale in the market-place of 

 Lund. On the coast of Jutland, according to Faber", it 

 is more common, but in the island-belt of Bohuslan it 

 is not taken verA' often. At Landskrona, according to 

 ScHAGERSTUOM, it is Called HorntiDiga; at Kullen, accord- 

 ing to NiLSSoN, JudepUid (Jutland-maid), or StoiDiuii 

 (Big-mouth); on the coast of Jutland, according to Faber, 

 Haa-iAnifi (Sea-flounder) or Skjcer-ising (Kock-flounder), 

 and in other parts of Demnark, according to Gottsciie, 

 Jlaieflymler (Sea-flounder), Tnngens liocr-inif/e (Bastard 

 Sole), UfCffte funge (=the preceding name), Jgdef tinge 

 (Jutland Sole) and Jgdekjfcrlhtg (Jutland-hag). In Bohus- 

 lan it is often called SaJa (Sole) or, according to Malji, 

 Storgnp (Big-mouth), Glib and GJlhskudda, or is con- 

 fused w'xih. rienronectes limanda under the name of Saiid- 

 skdddfi. Near Christiania Lili.jeborg heard it called 

 Engelsman (Englishman). The geographical range of the 

 species also embraces the whole of the North Sea and the 

 north of the Atlantic u|) to the Arctic Ocean. It has 

 never lieen found in the White Sea or further eastwards. 

 To tlie south it gro\\'s rare even on the south coasts of 

 Ireland and England, though, accoi'ding to Day, numerous 

 specimens are sometimes met w'ith, as for instance in the 

 summer of 1880, oft' Brixham. On the French coast it 

 has never been found. 



Like the Dab, the Rough Dab is said generally to 

 inliabit deepei' water than the most common Scandina- 

 vian Flatfishes (the Plaice and the Flounder), l)ut scarcely 

 anything more is known of its habits. In Bohuslan, ac- 

 cording to Malm, it is taken "at a de])th of from 12 to 

 20 fathoms and generally on a clean sand\ bottom" 

 (though Kuoyer states that oft" Hirsholni it prefers a 

 muddy bottom) or sometimes "in seines, which are sliot 

 at a de])th of 5 or (J fathoms and hauled up on shore." 

 In winter, according t(j Sundkvai.l, it I'etires to a depth 

 of 30 fathoms. 



The spawning-sccison of tlie Rough Dab was sup- 

 posed by Suxdevall, and subsequently by Couch, to 

 take place at the beginning of summer (May or June), 

 an hypothesis which agrees with Nilsson's more recent 

 statement that at Kullen it is best in April and up to the 

 middle of May. Kroveh, on the other hand, found Rough 

 Dabs in September ^vith the ovaries so well-developed 

 that he assumed the spawning-season to occui- in the 

 middle of winter, while Malm quotes a statement (jf the 

 fishermen of Bohuslan to the eft'ect that "the roe runs in 

 February and is spent by the month of March." We 

 have no more trustAvorthy obserA'ations to rely on. 



The food of the Rough Dab is composed of crusta- 

 ceans, shellfish, starfish and small fishes. In its stomach 

 and intestine Kroyer often found Gohiiis minufus, Sunde- 

 VALL shrimps (Palcemon and Mysls), Couch'' TurriteUa 

 ferehra and Hermit-crabs {Pagurus), and Gottsche Oj)Jn- 

 III (e. The intestine, abdominal cavity, and liver of the 

 Rough Dab are very often infested Avith entozoa; and 

 parasitic crustaceans are often found on its branchio- 

 stegal membrane and branchial arches. 



In Scandinavia the Rough Dab is taken only oc- 

 casionally, together Avith other Flatfishes and Avith the 

 same tackle'. As an article of food it is the least esteemed 

 of all the Flatfishes. (Suxdevall, Smitt.) 



Subfamily BOTH IN A. 



Snout not elongated, loirer Jair most prominent. Mouth middle-sized or large, onlij sligliflg or almost iinperceptihhj 

 iinsginmetrical; jaiv-teeth almost as weU-derehped on the cge side as on the blind side. Ventral _fin of the eye side 

 set more or less e.raetlg at the ventral margin, often in a straight line irith the base of the anal fin. Rays of the 

 central fins more or less separated at the base and attached to a forirard process of the pelvic bones, irhose shaft 

 is directed doirnwards. Eyes large or middle-sized. I'seiidobranchice and gill-rakers ivell-devcloped. 



point, the most unsymmetrical forms, the Soles, to the 



U]> to this point we have traced one of the c(jurses 

 of development of the family back from its culminating 



Halibuts, which have adhered more closely to the sym- 



« Isis, 18-28, p. 880. 



'' See Couch, Fifh. Brit. IsL. 



Scttndinavitin Fishes. 



Ill, 



153. 



54 



