86 THE FKESH-WATEi; FISHES OF EUKOPE. 



FAMILY : PLEURONECTID^E. 

 Pleuronectes flesus (LINNAEUS). The Flounder. 



D. 0260, P. 10, V. 6, A. 39-45, C. 14. Lat. line 85. 



Though best known as a sea-fish, the Flounder everywhere frequents fresh 

 waters, often ascending rivers for long distances. It is known in Sweden as 

 the Flundra, from which the English name Flounder may be derived, though 

 it is also known in North Germany and Central Europe as Plunder. The 

 Dutch term it Bot, which is probably the origin of the term Butt, by which 

 it is known in the backwaters behind Yarmouth and other parts of the east 

 coast, where it abounds. In France it is indifferently known as Picaud, 

 Flonilre, or more commonly as fe Flet. In Scotland and the north of England 

 it shares with Plaice the name of Fluke. 



Yarrell says it is taken as high up the Thames as Teddington and Sunbury. 

 Before the construction of the Thames Embankment it was frequently taken 

 in London by boys fishing from the river-banks. It formerly ascended the 

 Avon to near Bath, and Mr. Day, in former years, took it at Shrewsbury. 

 Pennant remarks that though they never grow large in our rivers, the fishes are 

 sweeter in flavour than those which live in the sea. In Belgium, according 

 to Selys-Longchamps, it goes up the Scheldt, and passes up the Nethe beyond 

 Brussels to Waterloo. 



It ascends the Rhine, and has been taken in the Moselle at Trier and Metz, 

 and has been recorded in the Rhine at Mainz. It is common in the Baltic, 

 and there enters the rivers, not, however, with the regularity of Salmon, or 

 other migratory fishes like the Eel, but probably in search of food and love 

 of quiet. And it similarly ascends the rivers of France, where it has been 

 taken in the Dordogne and other inland streams. It ascends all the rivers of 

 Russia from the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Baltic, and the White Sea, 

 and reaches many of the lakes. 



It possesses the power of adapting its colour to the locality in which it 

 lives. On black mud it is often indistinguishable from the bottom on which 

 it rests, while in clear water, with white sands, it may be white on both sides. 

 Sometimes, as Pennant and others have remarked, the colour is pink or red, 

 and specimens have been found with orange spots in some localities, while 

 other specimens occasionally have very dark brown spots. It frequently occurs 

 reversed with the colour and eyes on the left side. The Flounder is not very 

 discriminating in food, but prefers worms, insects, and small fishes, and will 

 also take small mollusca and most animal substances. 



