2 14 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



line are characteristic. The teeth of the plaice are pecuhar, 

 being broad and flat, and ending in straight edges : there are 

 also rounded crushing teeth in the throat. Colour, a number of 

 orange or red spots on a brown ground. 



Size. — The largest measured b}' Dr. Fulton on the east coast 

 of Scotland was 28 inches long. At Plymouth they do not 

 usually exceed 20 inches: the usual size is 15 to 18 inches, the 

 largest 24 inches. The largest measured by Holt on the west 

 coast of Ireland was 26 inches. Farther north they are larger. 

 Mr. Holt found from observations on the Grimsby pontoon 

 that the smallest plaice brought by trawlers from Iceland was 

 12 inches long, few were less than 17 inches, a great many were 

 27 inches and specimens of 30 inches or even several inches 

 longer than this were not uncommon. These fish were taken at 

 depths from 7 to 40 fathoms. The colour of these fish as a rule 

 was not so bright as that of North Sea fish, the ground colour 

 being a dark brown, and the spots dull rust-coloured and few 

 in number. On the other hand plaice in the Baltic are limited 

 to a considerably smaller size than those in the North Sea. In 

 a consignment of these fish examined at Grimsby the ripe 

 females were only from gh to 13^^ inches in total length. 



Habitat. — Extends from the Bay of Biscay to the north coast 

 of Europe. Is very scarce in the Mediterranean and absent 

 from the east coast of the United States. It is abundant on 

 the coast of Iceland, and all round the British and Irish coasts. 



Food. — The plaice feeds chiefly on bivalve shell-fish, whose 

 shells it is able to crush by means of the strong blunt teeth in its 

 throat, but it also eats sea- worms. In the Firth of Forth, accord- 

 ing to the observations of Mr. Ramsay Smith in the Reports of 

 the Scottish Fishery Board, the bivalve most commonly present 

 in the stomachs was a small species called Scrobiailaria, and 

 next to this in frequency was the razor-shell {Soleii) ; cockles, 

 and scallops or clams {Pecten) were also present. Of the worms 

 all kinds are devoured, sea-mouse, lug-worms, rag-worms, and 

 tube-worms. Crustaceans in the Firth of Forth were not often 

 among the food, being represented only by an occasional shrimp 

 or crab. Sand-stars were more frequently eaten, fish very rarely. 



In opening the stomachs of plaice from the Dogger Bank 

 and the Sylt grounds in the North Sea I have often found them 

 distended with white fleshy masses without any shells. Usually 



