THE FLAT-FISH. 387 



ventral fin (not always present), these fish are soft to 

 handle, though this spine sometimes gets in the way 

 when they are being taken from the hook. .Most of them 

 are smooth, though the dab is rough -skinned, and the 

 turbot and flounder are covered with tubercles. In speak- 

 ing of " right-sided " or "left-sided" flat-fish, it must be 

 remembered that few families in the fish world are subject 

 to a greater number of aberrant forms. What is meant 

 is that, normally, a right-sided flat-fish, as the plaice, has 

 the eyes and colour on the right side, the fish being held 

 with its tail to the observer and the ventral fin to the 

 ground. A comparison with any round -fish will show 

 that what appears as the back of these fish is. in reality 

 one of its sides, while the edges of the flat-fish are really 

 their back and belly. As already said, exceptions are 

 numerous, and we constantly come across examples with 

 both sides coloured, known as " double " examples ; others 

 that should be coloured on the right side are found to 

 be coloured on the left, and vice versd. These latter 

 are called "reversed" examples. The mouth of flat-fish 

 is, as a rule, exceedingly small, and they mostly feed on 

 worms and other soft food, which they suck from the 

 sand. The females are larger and more numerous than 

 the males. 



The turbot and brill, with three or four more of less 

 importance, have the eyes and colour on the left side, and 

 their mouth is large. 



The first of these, the Turbot, is a familiar fish, in which 

 tubercles take the place of scales. These tubercles are 

 confined to the coloured side, the colour being 

 brown or stone-grey. This fish, which has been 

 recorded to a weight of over 20 Ibs., feeds on small fishes, 

 among them being sand-eels and atherines, and crusta- 

 ceans. Though a ground-fish, taken on the long line or 

 in the trawl, I have observed small examples clinging 

 to the piles of Bournemouth pier within a couple of feet 



