THE FLAT-FISH FAMILY 



275 



June : it has not been carefully studied. A ripe male was found 

 in April on the west of Ireland. 



The Eggs and their Development. — Raffaele reports that the 

 eggs of Arnoglossus are like those of turbot and brill, having a 

 simple }-olk and a single oil-globule, but smaller, measuring only 

 0"6 to 07 mm. across (t^^tt o^ little more, about j\j- inch). The 

 larva of this species has not been traced. 



The smallest specimen obtained in the Irish Survey (Fig. 128) 

 was 25 mm. (i inch) long. Many scales were still in the skin, 

 and it was doubtless provided with them all over during life. 

 In the preserved specimen there was not much pigment, only 

 patches of black specks here and there. This specimen was 



Fig. 128. — Young Scaklfish, i inch long. From a preserved specimen ; after Holt. 



taken at 41 fathoms in August ; it may have been spawned the 

 same }-ear. In Cawsand Bay, Plymouth, young specimens are 

 abundant. In October they were obtained of the length of 2'8 to 

 3-4 cm. (ri to Flinch) and probably four or five months old. 

 In February others were 4'5 to ^-^^ cm. (rS to 2"5 inches), and 

 these would be eight or nine months old. Older specimens were 

 abundant from May to September, and ranged from rp to 5'4 

 inches. The larger of these must have been two years old, the 

 smaller one year. In December forty-three specimens 5 "8 to 

 8 inches were obtained from trawlers fishing from ten to twent)^ 

 miles from the coast : these were two or three years old and 

 upwards, and were sexually mature. In September thirteen 

 specimens only 3'I5 to 47 inches were taken eight to ten miles 



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