240 



MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



peculiar oval shape of the lemon dab. The left eye had not 

 reached its final position, but was on the edge of the head. The 

 pigment formed five well-marked bands across the body as in 

 the stages previously described. These bands were scarcely in- 

 dicated on the central region of the right side, but marked by 

 distinct patches on the outer parts and on the fins. The fin-rays 

 were well developed in all the fins the pectoral, the pelvic, the 

 dorsal and ventral, and the tail fin. 



These fish are probably from two to three months old. It is 

 remarkable that none of these later larval or transformation 

 stages have ever been taken except on these occasions during the 



FIG. I II. Young Lemon Dab in last stage of transformation, slightly more than I inch 

 long. From a preserved specimen ; after Holt. 



Irish Survey. Corresponding stages of other kinds of flat fish 

 are to be obtained without much difficulty at the margin of the 

 sea in harbours, estuaries, or bays at low tide. But no specimens 

 of the lemon dab in these stages have been found in such situa- 

 tions. It need not be concluded however that they only occur 

 at depths approaching 80 fathoms. On the south-west coast of 

 Ireland the declivity of the bottom is very rapid, and it is highly 

 probable that in the English Channel or the North Sea the later 

 larval stages of the growth of this fish are passed on grounds only 

 somewhat deeper than those where the adults live. They may 

 be even on the same grounds. It is to be remembered that such 



