109 



Enemies. 



I am inclined to think that the principal and most deadly enemy of the sole is man. 

 But my evidence on this subject is by no means extensive. I have never seen an adult 

 sole in the stomach of any fish except the angler, but on the other hand, I have not 

 devoted much time to recording the contents of the stomachs of the larger predatory 

 fishes. Considering the great timidity of the sole it is difficult to avoid the inference 

 that it has many enemies to fear. Probably young soles and other flat-fishes living in 

 the conditions in which I found them in Mevagissey harbour are largely devoured by 

 gulls and shore birds when left by the receding tide in the shallow pools of the shore, 

 but I cannot assert this from direct observation. I have once or twice seen large 

 conger seize and devour flounders in a large tank of our aquarium ; there were no 

 soles in the same tank, but it may be inferred that conger would devour soles when 

 they had the opportunity, and that they do devour them in the open sea. But it 

 must be mentioned that our captive conger have by no means eaten all the flounders 

 in their tank ; probably they are never so hungry when fed regularly in captivity as 

 when they have to seek their own living in the wild state, and therefore conger may 

 reasonably be reckoned, on the south coast, among the enemies of the sole. I have 

 never eeea the common spotted dog-fish (Scyllium canicula and Sc. catulus) eat flat- 

 fishes in the tanks, though they are kept together in the same tank, but I think 

 cod and hake probably eat soles and other flat-fishes sometimes. One of the 

 commonest and most destructive enemies of ground fishes is the angler (Lophius 

 piscatorius] which grows to an enormous size and consists almost entirely of a huge 

 mouth and a small conical tail. I have frequently seen several large specimens of 

 this fish in a single haul of the trawl, and it constantly swallows other fish, including 

 flat-fish, even after it is in the trawl, its voracity being so great that it devours its 

 fellow captives. I have often seen soles taken from its stomach on the deck of a 

 trawler, and when extracted they are usually quite uninjured and are packed away 

 with the rest for market ; so that when we eat a sole we cannot be certain that it has 

 not been swallowed before. The angler is very inactive, its powers of locomotion 

 being limited. It partly buries itself in the sand on which it lives, and its colour and 

 appendages are such that in this condition its true character is perfectly concealed. 

 Over the head are long flexible filaments which are supposed to serve as a lure to 

 attract other fishes, but which probably have lit t tle effect on soles because they do 

 not hunt by sight. The angler thus forms a living and deadly pitfall. Any fish 

 coming unconsciously near its terrible gape is seized and engulphed in the great 

 cavity of its mouth, and soles of the largest size are swallowed by it with ease. 



