PISCES—SOLE...LUMP FISH. F43 
THE SOLE! 

Tus well-known and delicious fish is remarkable for one extraordinary 
circumstance ; they have been known to feed on shell-fish, although they 
are furnished with no apparatus whatever in their mouth for reducing them 
to a state calculated for digestion. The stomach, however, has a dissolvent 
power, which makes up for the want of masticating apparatus. But the 
most usual food for soles is the spawn and young of other fish. 

THE LUMP FISH, LUMPSUCKER, OR SEA OWLS 

ls sixteen inches in length, and its weight about four pounds; the shape of 
the body is like that of the bream, deep, and it swims edgewise, the back is 
sharp and elevated, and the belly flat; the lips, mouth, and tongue of this 
animal are of a deep red; the whole skin is rough, with bony knobs, the 
largest row is along the ridge of the back; the belly is of a bright crimson 
color ; but what makes the chief singularity in this fish, is an oval aperture 
in the belly, surrounded with a fleshy, soft substance, that seems bearded all 
round; by means of this part it adheres with vast force to any thing it 
pleases. If flung into a pail of water, it will stick so close to the bottom, 
that on taking the fish by the tail, one may lift up pail and all, though it 
hold several gallons of water. Great numbers of these fish are found along 

1 Solea vulgaris, Cuv. This genus has the mouth twisted to the side opposite to the 
eyes ; jaws destitute of teeth on the eye side; body oblong; dorsal fin commencing at the 
mouth, and running, as well as the anal fin, to the tail; lateral line straight. 
* Cyclopterus lumpus, Lin. This genus has the mouth large, with very small pointed 
teeth in both jaws; pectoral fin, and large ventral fins united in the form of an oval and 
concave disc bromzhial membrane with six rays; skin viscid and without scales. 
