218 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description Imperceptible in the sand. 



THE TURBOT. 



THE turbot, like some others of the flat-fish, 

 giows to a great size. Flat-fish swim sideways, 

 on which account they are styled pleuronectes 

 by Linnaeus. The eyes of all of them are situ- 

 ated on one side of the head, and it is a curious 

 circumstance, that while the under parts of 

 their body are of a brilliant white, the upper 

 parts are so colored and speckled as, when they 

 are half immersed in the sand or mud, to render 

 them imperceptible. Of this resemblance they 

 are so conscious, that whenever they find them- 

 selves in danger, they sink into the mud, and 

 continue perfectly motionless. This is a circum- 

 stance so well known to fishermen, that within 

 their palings on the strand they are often under 

 the necessity of tracing furrows with a kind of 

 iron sickle, to detect by the touch what they are 

 not otherwise able to distinguish. Not being 

 rapacious, or furnished with any weapons of 

 defence, these fish owe their security to this 

 stratagem ; while the thornback and rays, that 

 are carnivorous and armed with strong spines, 

 although flat-fish of a different class, are marbled 

 with lighter colours, that they may be perceived 

 and avoided by less powerful fish. 



Turbot and holibut are in many parts of this 



country sold indiscriminately for each other ; 



they are, however, perfectly distinct, the upper 



parts of the former being marked with large, un- 



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