502 



FLAT-FISH. 



specimens of more than double that length are not 

 uncommon, while in the North Sea, where it is par- 

 ticularly abundant, it has certainly been met with eight 

 feet long 1 , or, as has been stated, as much as eighteen 

 or twenty. It is a far more hardy fish, and therefore 

 more discursive than the former ones. In some of 

 the northern countries of Europe it is obtained in 

 great abundance, and salted as provision against those 

 times when, on account of the violence of the weather, 

 the abundance of the sea cannot be got at directly. 

 Halibut, though a thick fish, and containing a great 

 quantity of muscle, is strong and hard, entirely desti- 

 tute of the delicacy of the better species of Platessa, 

 or of the richness of the turbot. Hence it is in little 

 estimation among those who are curious in fish, and 

 consequently sells at a moderately low price. As its 

 range is more discursive than that of the turbot, it is 

 much more easily caught, and there are many parts 

 of the British shores where halibut is known as 

 turbot, and the real turbot is termed a flounder or 

 fluke, and sold as such. This we believe is, or at 

 least was lately, the case in Edinburgh, in the 

 estuary below which there is understood to be good 

 fishing both for turbot and sole, but, either the 

 fishing-ground is too far off, and improperly under- 

 stood, or its value has been overrated, for the fishing 

 has not hitherto succeeded. Strange stories are 

 given of casualties that happen to large and over- 

 grown old halibut, especially in the North Seas. It 

 is said that their backs, which are of ample extent, 

 become grown over with crops of sea-weed, in con- 

 sequence of which they are unable to keep below the 

 water, and thus to float sickly on the surface, until 

 they are devoured by gulls and other aquatic birds. 

 It is no doubt true that, owing to causes which we 

 are not very able to explain, these fishes, as well as 

 many other of the inhabitants of the deep, are often 

 found floating dead on the waters, and soon become 

 a prey to those birds whose business it is to consume 

 the refuse of the sea ; but the fact of a grove of 

 marine vegetation upon the back of a living fish is 

 rather too much for ordinary credulity, and puts one 

 more in mind of a story told and credited on the 

 banks of one of our northern rivers, where a salmon, 

 having been speared with an instrument, the shaft of 

 which was formed of a green sapling of mountain 

 ash, swam down with it to the sea, and returned on 

 its migration next autumn bearing a beautiful cluster 

 of berries of the mountain ash on the top of the 

 spear. The fact is, that, in endeavouring to obtain 

 anything like good accounts of the local characters 

 of fishes, or any other animals, in the North Seas, 

 the people there are so remarkable for the extent 

 of their credulity, and the singular stories which 

 they manufacture for its gratification, that, if one 

 trusts much to them, there is every certainty of being 

 deceived, without any intention on their part to 

 deceive us. It is probable that there are several 

 varieties of halibut. The general character of all 

 is the lateral line arched behind the pectorals ; but 

 there are some in the Mediterranean which have 

 different characters. A small species there has the 

 eyes on the left side of the head, and some others 

 have been described intermediate in their form be- 

 tween the common halibut and the turbot ; and some 

 idea of the mass of individuals of this sub-genus 

 caught in the North Seas, may be formed from the 

 fact of their being sometimes caught upwards of two 

 hundred pounds in weight. 



' RHOMBUS. The turbot sub-genus contains several 

 species, which all have the mouth entire, the teeth 

 numerous and slender, placed both in the jaws and 

 on the pharynx, which characters they have in com- 

 mon with the halibut, but they want the spine in 

 front of the anal fin, and the lunulated form of tho 

 tail which characterise that sub-genus. They have 

 also the eyes on the left side of the head, and this 

 character renders it probable that the left-headed 

 halibut of the Mediterranean may in reality be a tur- 

 bot, while some of the right headed turbots which 

 have been described are probably halibuts. 



Of all the species, the common turbot, Rhombus 

 maximum (Platessa maximus of Linnaeus), is the most 

 celebrated. It is usually more than two feet in length, 

 and sometimes weighs more than twenty pounds. Its 

 general outline is between a lozenge and a circle, and 

 having the length and breadth nearly equal. When 

 in good condition the turbot is reckoned one of the 

 finest of sea fishes. It is covered with small scales, 

 and the upper and under surfaces have small tubercles 

 upon them, which are, however, most conspicuous 

 upon the upper side. The colour of the upper side 

 is yellowish, clouded with brown ; and that of the 

 under side white. 



The estimation in which this fish is held as an 

 article of food makes it an object of great interest to 

 the fishermen on many parts of the coast. It is by 

 no means uncommon on most of the British shores, 

 though, as it resides more in deep water than the 

 flounders, and is more peculiar in its localities than 

 halibut, it is not so frequently taken as it perhaps might 

 be. It seems to be rather more abundant in cur 

 warmer seas than in our colder ones. But coirect 

 information on this point, and indeed on very many 

 points connected with the distribution and nature of 

 our fishing grounds, is still very much wanted. Tur- 

 bot is fished for with hooks and lines, and the bait 

 made use of is either mollusca, such as muscles or 

 limpets, both of which make very excellent bait, cr 

 bits of herring, haddock, or of most other fishes ; but 

 the bait for turbot must be quite fresh and recent. 



Brill (Pleuronectes rhombus of Linnaeus) is smaller 

 than the true turbot ; has the body oval and without 

 tubercles ; and is farther distinguished from the others 

 by having the first rays of the dorsal fin a little free, 

 or in the form of threads at their extremities. The 

 smooth soft skin, however, as contrasted with the 

 rough and tuberculated one of the turbot, is however 

 the most obvious distinguishing character. The colour 

 above is yellowish spotted with brown, yellow, and white, 

 while there is rarely any white on the upper part of 

 the turbot. The flesh of the brill is inferior to that of 

 the turbot, both in flavour and in its other qualities ; 

 but still it is very superior to that of the halibut ; and 

 though brill docs not fetch any thing like the price of 

 turbot at the markets, it is still a fish which is in con- 

 siderable repute. The method of capture is nearly 

 the same with both species ; but the fishing ground's 

 differ, as brill often makes its way a considerable dis- 

 tance up the estuaries of the larger rivers, which is not 

 the case with turbot. 



There are two or three other species or varieties of 

 this sub-genus, of which specimens are occasionally, 

 though rather rarely, taken on the British coasts, 

 especially on the south-west coasts of England and 

 Ireland. But in attending to these rare and transient 

 fishes, if we are to treat of fishes in a popular and 

 economical point of view, we must be careful not to 



