MARINE FOOD FISHES 117 



ring and subsequent light and dark rings indicate a 

 year's growth. The rings, as a rule, are quite easy to 

 distinguish and their number bear a regular relationship 

 to the length of the plaice. Thus, in any particular area 

 the length of the plaice is an indication of its age which 

 can always be confirmed by an examination of the 

 otoliths. 



Considerable attention has been paid to the examina- 

 tion of otoliths on the Continent and in this country, 

 and naturalists are satisfied that otolith examination is 

 a reliable source of information. But I will describe 

 how every reader of this book can examine plaice for 

 himself, and confirm the relationship of the length and 

 the age of the fish as indicated by the white rings on the 

 otoliths. 



Every morning your fishmonger receives with his 

 consignment of fish a number of plaice. These are 

 neatly laid out on the marble slab, and the housewife 

 comes and selects the particular fish she desires, and 

 then orders it to be sent home filleted. The fishmonger 

 lays the plaice on a board, runs the point of a sharp 

 knife down the whole length of the fish on one side of 

 the backbone. He then makes a cut through the flesh 

 just behind the gill-cover, and with a dexterous sweep 

 of the knife the first fillet is cut clean off the bones. In 

 a similar manner, a second fillet is taken off the other 

 side of the backbone. The plaice is now turned over 

 and two more fillets similarly removed. After a plaice 

 has been filleted, the bony skeleton is as perfect 



