230 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



As food. The flesh of this fish is white, firm, and of 

 excellent flavour, those from the deepest waters being 

 generally preferred ; during the time of breeding, and for 

 a short period subsequently, they are soft and watery. 

 Those on the west coast and to the south are larger as a 

 rule than those towards the north of these islands. May- 

 hew tells us that London requires annually 97,520 soles, 

 while that market is principally supplied from the Norfolk 

 coast and the English Channel. 



Habitat. It extends from the seas of Scandinavia and 

 the Baltic southwards, round all the coasts of France, and 

 is found in the Mediterranean. 



It is taken in the Orkneys and Zetland, but is rare ; it is 

 not very common off Banff, but found off Aberdeen ; is 

 common in the Moray Firth, but not much sought after ; 

 frequent at St. Andrews ; sparingly at the mouth of the 

 Firth of Forth. Resident and common off Yorkshire. Has 

 once occurred at Goole, in the estuary of the Humber, near 

 the mouth of the Ouse ; the Great Grimsby fishermen assert 

 that they capture most of their small soles off the Dutch 

 coast. Common in the Norfolk estuary ; abundant off the 

 south coast from Sussex to Devonshire, and common off 

 Cornwall. Also found in the British Channel, and generally 

 around Great Britain. 



In Ireland soles occur all round the coast, and Thompson 

 remarks that those in the north vary considerably in form 

 and colour from those more to the south. As to the size it 

 attains, Thompson's largest example was 20 inches in 

 length. Mr. Grove, of Charing Cross, received one from 

 Torbay on February ist, 1882, 24 inches long, and which 

 weighed 6^- Ib. A correspondent of the Field alludes to 

 one weighing 7- Ib. captured at Bridgewater, on June 4th, 

 1 88 1 ; and casts of a pair from Ireland, which weighed 



