[33] FLOUNDERS AND SOLES. 257 



28. PLEURONECTES MAXIMUS. 



(The Turbot.) 



[Plates IX and X.] 



a. Var. maximus. 



Rhombus aculeatus Rondelet, De Piscibus, and of early pre-Linnseau writers. 

 Pleuronectes maximus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, 271, 1758, and ed. xii, 459 (and of 



early writers generally). 

 Scophthalmus maximus Rafinesque, Indice, 14. 

 Rhombus maximus Giinther, iv, 407, 1862. Steindachuer, Icbtbyol. Berichte, vi, 1868, 



48 (Lisbon, Vigo, Trieste, Constantinople, Odessa, Cadiz). Day, Fisbes Great 



Britain and Ireland, vol. ii, p. 11, plate xcvi. 

 Psetta maxima Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fisb., ii, 302, 1839. 

 Pleuronectes cyclops "Donovan, Britisb Fisbes, iv, pi. 90," 1801. 

 Pleuronectes liiberculatus Sbaw, Gen'l Zool., iv, 312, 1803. 

 Rhombus aculeatus Gottscbe, Wiegin. Arcbiv, 1835, 172. 



b. Var. mwoticus. 



Pleuronectes mwoticus Pallas, Zoogr. Ross. As., iii, 419, 1811. 

 Rhombus mwoticus Giintber, iv, 409, 1862 (Erzeroum). 

 Rhombus stcllosus Bennett, " Proc. Zool. Soc., 1835, 92" (Erzeroum). 

 Rhombus torosus Ratbke, Fauna der Erym., 349, 1837 (Crimea). 

 Rhombus rhombitis Ratbke, Fauna der Krym., 351, 1837 (Crimea). 



Habitat. — All coasts of Europe except the extreme north. Variety 

 mwoticus in the Black Sea and extending mto the Mediterranean. 



This species is the famous turbot of Europe, a broad, thick flounder, 

 reaching a large size, its surface nearly scaleless and covered with rough 

 warts. In spite of numerous statements to the contrary, the turbot has 

 never been found in American waters. The fish so called by the Bahama 

 and Key West fishermen, and which they often maintain is the turbot 

 of Europe, is a trigger-fish, Balistes carolincnsis Gmelin. 



The turbot is an excellent food-fish, generally common on the coasts 

 of Europe, and everywhere highly prized. It is the most valuable of 

 the European flounders. 



According to Dr. Steindachuer, there is a complete gradation be- 

 tween the ordinary turbot in which the scales are obsolete and concealed, 

 and the scaly turbot (var. mwoticus), which is more or less completely 

 scaly, at least on the left side. Seindachner observes (Ichth. Berichte, 

 ii, 48, 1868) : 



"Completely scaled on the sides of the body and the head (in part 

 also on the blind side) is a very large individual from Lisbon and two 

 smaller ones from Yigo, and from the Baltic Sea ; for the greater part 

 scaly on four examples from Trieste ; only here and there on two examples 

 from Odessa and Constantinople, and finally naked on numerous ex- 

 amples from Trieste, Cadiz, and the German Ocean." 



The turbot reaches a weight of 40 to 50 pounds or more. 



Rhombus torosus Batlike, described from the Crimea, is apparently a 

 local variety of PI. maximus, having the warts on the body elliptical 

 JS. Mis. 90 17 



