260 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



The eggs have been taken from the fish in the ripe condition, 

 and also obtained in abundance from the sea. They differ from 

 those of the sole chiefly in the fact that the oil globules are 

 larger and scattered singly and separately over the surface of 

 the yolk. The egg is 1-36 mm. in diameter (a little more than 

 -gJg- inch). The larva when first hatched (Fig. 119) resembles that 

 of the sole, but the pigment is lighter ; the larva is 2^42 mm. in 

 length (not quite T V inch), considerably smaller than that of 

 the sole. 



Intermediate stages have not been seen. The youngest 

 fully developed specimen obtained was rS inch long, taken, in 

 July, two miles north of the Eddystone. This specimen \vas 

 possibly only three months old, but more probably a year. 



The Turbot (RJwinbus maximus}. 



Distinguishing Characters. Eyes and colour on left side, 

 body very broad, mouth large, teeth and jaws on the two sides 

 equal. Distinguished from the brill by the greater breadth of 

 the body in proportion to the length, the absence of scales, and 

 the presence of scattered, large, bony, blunt tubercles. The 

 fin-rays are few in number, dorsal 61 to 72, ventral 45 to 56. 

 Colour in life speckled, light or dark according to the bottom it 

 lies on : after death a dark brown somewhat mottled. 



Size. The average length of the mature males, according 

 to Dr. Fulton, is 17^2 inches, the largest 24 inches; of the 

 mature females the average 20*3, the largest 28 inches. A male 

 26 inches long, weighing 14 Ibs., was taken during the Irish 

 Survey. Buckland records a turbot which weighed 32 Ibs. 



Habitat. A rather southern fish, extending throughout the 

 Mediterranean and Black Sea, and northward to the latitude of 

 Denmark and the southern part of Scotland, north of which it 

 is rare. It does not exist on the American side of the Atlantic. 

 It is rare on the coasts of the Orkneys and Shetlands, absent 

 from Iceland. It was taken in considerable numbers during the 

 Irish Survey on the west coast of Ireland, and occurs also on 

 the north-east and south coasts. In the English Channel it 

 forms an important part of the produce of the trawl fishery. 



It is a shallow water fish. None were taken on the west 



