THE FLAT-FISH FAMILY 2/1 



The Megrim {Lepidorhojubus megastoina). 



Distinguishing Characters. — This fish has a large mouth, large 

 head and large eyes, and a rather narrow, thin, pale body. The 

 teeth equally developed on the two sides, small, in two rows, also 

 on vomer. The eyes are on the left side as in turbot and brill. 

 The curve of the lateral line above the pectoral is somewhat 

 oblong, not semicircular. The skin is thin, and the scales 

 Avhich are large and spinous (ctenoid), easily detached. The 

 dorsal fin commences in front of the upper eye, but the first rays 

 are not elongated or branched. The fin-rays are more numerous 

 than in the brill, namely, dorsal 85-91, ventral 61-75. Colour, a 

 pale brownish yellow without distinct markings. Flesh rather 

 dry. 



Size. — The largest recorded was 23I inches long: the largest 

 taken in the Irish Survey was 18 inches. 



Names. — This fish is called by a different name at almost 

 every fishing port. At Plymouth it is always known to the 

 fishermen as the megrim, while the hawkers call it the lemon 

 sole. In Cornwall it is known as the whiff. Couch describes it 

 as the carter and the sail-fluke, supposing that there arc two 

 separate kinds. In Cornwall it is also called lantern-fish, from 

 its transparency, as another species is called window-pane in 

 America. In Dublin it is called white sole, ox sole, and lemon 

 sole. 



Habitat. — It is fairly abundant from the Bay of Biscay to 

 the north coast of Norway. Doubtful whether it exists in the 

 Mediterranean or whether its place there is taken by the allied 

 species L. boscii. It occurs on the coast of Iceland. Not 

 abundant in the North Sea. 



This fish has a great range in depth. During the Irish Survey 

 specimens of 12 inches in length and upwards were taken at 

 various depths from 4 to 220 fathoms. They occurred in numbers 

 at 20 to 25 fathoms, at 50 to 60 fathoms, and at 154 fathoms. 



It is evident that this fish is fairly abundant off the S.W. of 

 England, and on the western shores of Ireland and Scotland to the 

 Orkneys, and again further north, and yet is comparatively rare in 

 the North Sea and the Irish Sea. The probable explanation is 

 that in these latitudes it properly belongs to ground beyond the 50 



