THE VAAGMAER. 479 



have, so fai' as is recorded, much exceeded three feet in 

 length, hut it attains a much greater size. Mention, indeed, 

 is made of one captured on the Scottish coast measuring 

 five feet, and weighing ISi pounds. Nothing seems to be 

 known regarding the breeding or other habits of this 

 beautiful and rare lish. But this is not surprising, as it is 

 believed to confine itself almost solely to the deeps ; and 

 we, in consequence, seldom make its acquaintance, unless 

 it be cast on shore by storms ; nor has any one as yet, I 

 believe, seen the young of the Opali. 



The Vaagmaer, or Deal Fish {Solv- Qoeite, i. e. silvery 

 holibut, Norw. ; Traclnjpterns Bogmanis, Cuv. & Val.). 

 This singular fish, whose proper home would seem to 

 be the northern seas, is occasionally met with on the 

 coasts of Finmark, but never elsewhere as regards Scan- 

 dinavia. It is, however, considered rare, and is only seen, I 

 believe, during the autumn, when it is either captured in 

 the herring-nets or washed ashore during storms. At 

 other times it is supposed to live in the deeps. In one 

 instance, Kroyer tells us, it has been met with on the 

 coast of Jutland, between tlie town of Frederikshavn 

 and the Scaw. It swims in the same manner as the 

 Flounder, and when at the bottom, always lies on its left 

 side like that fish. The Vaagmaer attains a great size, 

 six to ten feet in length, it is said. According to the 

 fishermen, it is, when alive, excessively obese and rounded 

 on the sides, but the fat is of such a liquid and oily nature 

 that it runs out of the fish as soon as dead, making him 

 appear flat and attenuated. The Vaagmaer is sometimes 

 seen by the fishermen when lying at the bottom of the sea 

 in several fathoms water, when it looks like so much 

 burnished silver. On these occasions the men sink a 

 so-called dragg (such as is used to recover the bodies of 

 dead seals), and aflix it to the fish — which is the more 

 readily accomplished owing to its swimming badly, and 



