WEE VER-FISH—L UMP-SUCKERS—BLENNIES 291 



in large shoals from deep water to the coast, where they remain in the shallows 



during the summer. The largest of the family is the halibut {Hippo glossus 



vulgaris), of which one example is recorded to have measured 20 feet in length. 



This is a North Atlantic species, unknown to the south of the Bay of Biscay. 



The smaller but more valuable turbot (Rhombus maximus) ranges into the 



Mediterranean, but does not occur on the American side of the Atlantic ; its usual 



length is about 17 inches, although it occasionally reaches 28 inches. In place of 



scales, the body is sparsely covered with scattered bony tubercles. The brill 



(R. Icevis) is a narrower fish, usually about 20 inches long, and covered with small 



smooth scales. In both the brill and the turbot the eyes are on the left side, 



whereas in the halibut they are on the right, as they also are in the plaice (Pleuro- 



nectes platessa), the type of the whole family. This species is common in British 



waters, whence it extends across the North Sea to the Baltic. It is specially 



characterised by the large reddish yellow spots on the dark side of the body and 



fins. To the same genus belongs the flounder (P. flesws), which has tubercles 



round the base of the fins, and is common in British seas and the Baltic, whence it 



ascends rivers for some distance. Perhaps the most highly esteemed member of 



the entire group is the sole (Solea vulgaris), in which the eyes are on the right 



side and the nostrils are equal-sized. Soles range all round the coasts of Europe, 



from the Mediterranean to the north of Scandinavia, where they frequent sandy or 



gravelly bottoms in rather shallow water. In the other species of this genus the 



nostrils are unequal. 



Yet another family is typified by the greater weever (Trachinus 

 Weever-Fisli etc 



" draco), in which a long spine on the gill-cover is employed as a 



formidable defensive weapon. This species occurs throughout the Atlantic and 



also in the South Pacific off the coast of Peru. 



The clumsy-looking lump-suckers are thus named from the 



presence of an adhesive disc on the under surface of the body 

 formed by the coalesced and aborted pelvic fins. A well-known representative of 

 the group is the common lump-fish (Cyclopterus lumpus), met with abundantly in 

 the colder latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, in which the males are generally 

 red, the females blue, and the young green or yellow on the under surface. 



The blennies, on the other hand, constitute a family (Blenniidce) 



by themselves, comprising about two hundred species distributed over 

 the temperate and tropical seas, although some inhabit estuaries and fresh waters. 

 The typical species is the viviparous blenny (Zoarces viviparus) of the eastern North 

 Atlantic, which attains a length of 2 feet or more, and brings forth as many as 

 two hundred young at a time. When born, these are more than an inch long, and able 

 to take care of themselves. Belonging to the same family, but very different in 

 appearance, is the eel-like butter-fish (Centronotus gunnellus), which derives its 

 name from the slime on the body. 



Another and much more ferocious representative, common to the temperate 

 coasts of northern Europe and North America, is the ugly wolf-fish (Anarrkichas 

 lujms), which grows to 6 feet or more in length, and possesses a formidable set of 

 crushing teeth. Although these fishes are capable of defending themselves with 

 ferocity, and will attack even human beings, they appear to have received their 



