86 PLEURONECTS, OR FLAT-FISH. 



ranean, and figures conspicuously in the fish -markets of 

 Naples, and in Irish waters he appears in immense shoals. 

 Gal way Bay is called the " Bay of Hakes." In Mount 

 Bay, Cornwall, forty thousand have been caught in a 

 night. 



We now pass to the Pleuronectidce, or flat-fish. These 

 consist of two distinct classes : in one, as in the skate, the 

 body is flattened downwards or vertically ; in the other, as 

 in turbot, plaice, sole, flounder, it is compressed from side 

 to side. They are designated Pleuronects, or side-swimmers, 

 because they usually move through the water on one of 

 their flat sides. The genera are numerous, and these are 

 unequally distributed in different parts of the globe, and 

 in greater or less variety, according to the latitudes, 

 diminishing towards the north. In. England, according 

 to Yarrell, there are sixteen species ; in the parallel of 

 Jutland and the islands at the mouth of the Baltic, 

 thirteen ; on the coast of Norway, the number is reduced 

 to ten ; at Iceland, to five ; whilst Greenland possesses 

 three species only. 



We shall give, in our description of the Pleuronects, the 

 first place to the regal TURBOT (Rhombus maximus), which 

 has always enjoyed a distinguished gastronomic reputa- 

 tion. 



Need we describe it ? Is there any one ignorant of its 

 peculiar appearance ? Will not all our readers be aware 

 that it has (as, in truth, its Latin appellation signifies) a 

 rhomboidal body, with a dorsal fin commencing immediately 

 above the upper lip, and stretching almost to the tail-fin ? 



