438 



SCANDINAVIAN FISIIKS. 



small, ascending, dorsal branch, or the curved part, in 

 addition to its straight continuation, may send out a 

 \entral branch which descends behind and below the 

 pectoral fin, but at once bends up again in a curve 

 towards the hind (lower) angle of the pectoral iin. In 

 the latter case three distinct ventral branches of the 

 lateral line may descend from the bottom of this curve, 

 but they bend so sharply forward that when they unite 

 below, this takes place close to the vent". 



The internal organs in essential respects are the 

 same as in most of the Flatfishes, but the intestinal 

 canal is comparatively short. In accordance with the 

 form of the body the abdominal cavity is also deep and 

 short, its length being about \g, but its depth about 

 ^/^, of the length of the body. The liver is compara- 

 tively small and scarcely fills the upper half of the left 

 side of the abdominal cavity. Neither externally nor 

 internallj' is there any marked division between the 

 tesophagus and the stomach. The former runs straight 

 back along the dorsal margin of the abdominal cavity 

 to the point where the stomach bends straight do^vn, 

 almost at right angles to it. In this angle, however, 

 the larjje longitudinal folds of the mucous membrane 

 on the inner ■wall of the stomach reach their highest 

 point of development, being even longitudinally divided 

 in two, and thus giving us reason to assume the ]jre- 

 sence of a kind of cardia. At its lower end the sto- 

 mach resembles a blind sac and is somewhat enlarged, 

 but from this wider part it sends out in front, straight 

 upwards, a narrower pyloric part which is sharply di- 

 vided trom the intestine, to Avhich are attached two 

 short but thick appendages, which fall Ijack in a more 

 or less sharp curve over the pylorus. A double coil 

 of the intestine lies in front of the stomach, and the 

 thick rectum coasts the front side of the pyloric part 

 and the bottom of the stomach. Secondary abdominal 

 cavities occur only in the females; l)ut tliey extend far 

 back, along the interluemal spines of the anal fin. In 

 a female 53 cm. long the two ovaries are almost equallv 

 long, their length from the genital opening being about 

 24 cm., and 14 cm. of this length lying behind the 

 extreme end of the abdominal cavity. At the bottom 



of the abdominal cavity the ovaries are united to each 

 other; and the urinary bladder lies between and behind 

 their upper parts in the abdominal cavity. 



The coloration of the eye side is extremely variable. 

 Not onh- are the fry known for tlieir great power of 

 adapting their colour M'ith comparative rapidity to the 

 general colour and light of their environments; but 

 even older specimens occur of lighter or darker shades, 

 spotted or of uniform colour. The ground-colour is 

 grav: Init in the dnrker specimens this shades into 

 brown or blackisli brown, in the lighter ones to yellow 

 or olive-green. Thus, we now find grayish brown Tur- 

 bots -with darker markings on the body, or specimens 

 of a more unvaried, blackish brown colour, and \\'ith 

 spots on the fins, as shown in v. Weight's figure, now 

 grayish, greenish yellow ones, as we see them in the 

 figures of Couch'' and Sundman'". The blind side is, 

 as usual, white or sometimes marked Avith irregular 

 spots except in the double specimens, which also occur 

 in this species, and in the fry, wliere the blind side is 

 more or less nearly of the same colour as the eye side. 



The Turbot in all probability occurs in fairly high 

 northern latitudes. It is taken even among the Lofoden 

 Islands, though only seldom. Its true habitat, where 

 it is of more frequent occurrence, extends from the 

 vicinit-s' of Bergen to tlie Mediterranean; and as we 

 have mentioned, it also enters the Black Sea, as well 

 as the Baltic, where it is met with up to the district 

 of Bjorneborg, though onlv seldom north of Alands 

 Haf. It is not common off Stockholm, but fairly large 

 specimens are taken now and then in the island-belt, 

 where Baron Cederstrom saw a specimen 2'/2 kgm. in 

 weight off Holo outside Vermdo, in August, 1852 ''. 

 In the island-belt of Morko, according to Ekstrom, tlie 

 Turbot sometimes attains a weight of 'I'^l^ or 3 kgm., 

 though it is not common there either. According to 

 Seidlitz" it occurs along the whole coast of the Baltic 

 Provinces of Russia. According to Benecke' tlie Tur- 

 bot is apparenth' not rare on the Prussian coast, where 

 it is said to prefer S})Ots near tlie mouths of I'ivers, 

 and sometimes to enter the rivers as Avell as the 

 lagoons or Hajf's- On the east coast of Scania it is 



" Another, less intricate ramification of tlie lateral line at this point is described by KiioYElt, Damn. Fiskc, vol. 2, p. 436. 



* Fish. Brit, hi., pi. CLXI. 



<■ Fiiil. Fislur, pi. XXII. 



'' SUNDEVALL, 1. C, p. 165. 



' Fauna balticn, ji. 117. 



■^ Fish., Fischer., Fisrh:. II'. v. 0. Freass., p. 95. 



