﻿lying on a warm, dry deck in the burning sun is somewhat diminished; Imt 

 as the fishermen have nothing to do with such small fish as those, rather with 

 fish of 8 — 10 inches, or even larger, and these are still more tenacious of life 

 than the little ones, as moreover the fish pursued by the fishermen, as a fact, 

 nearly always are placer! alive in /he pond, there can be no doubt that it is 

 possible also to throw out the undersized fish after the sorting in a state in 

 which they are capable of continuing life. Perhaps it will be hard to get suf- 

 ficient time for the sorting on the very warmest days, but a little care on the 

 part of the fishermen (wetting the deck, for instance, or putting up a little awn- 

 ing, etc.) will also here surely, as a rule, help them through the difficulties. 



But it cannot be denied that on a few occasions some of the small fish 

 will die, especially because the fishermen take so little care of them, when, for 

 instance, the)' do not sort the fish as quickly as possible, when they tramp 

 about among them, etc; hut it is my conviction that with very few exceptions 

 if is possible in tin large /•niters to throw, so to speak, all the plaice under the 

 site limit out ac/ain in a state in which the;/ are aide to lire*). 



The same can be said of the soles, which into the bargain are generally 

 fished in the night and in the colder season, and moreover are even more 

 tenacious of life than the plaice, according to the fishermen's statements and 

 according to what I have seen myself during the fishing. That they cannot 

 live in a tank as well as the plaice is owing to the peculiarity in them that 

 they attach themselves to the ship by »suckmg , but this has notliing to do 

 with their vitality while lying on the deck. 



The turbot and brill have, besides their great tenacity of life, the 

 advantage that they are caught in small numbers only by each haul, and 

 therefore quickly can be thrown out again. 



Among the other flat-fishes protected by law the flounder must he 

 reckoned among the fish that are tenacious of life, while the common dab is 

 rather delicate, loses its scales comparatively easily, and is not by far capable 

 of living so well as the other above-mentioned flat-fishes. 



As to Plenr. microceplialus and cynoglossus it might not be quite out of 

 the question to protect at least the former in the way here mentioned, but 

 as small specimens of the said species are but rarely caught, tins would he 

 without any practical importance; moreover they represent so small sums of 



*) It must bo mentioned, however, that when there are caught many star-fish in the 

 seine together with the plaice, then the latter may lie hurt by touching these ani- 

 mals, so that their vitality is somewhat diminished; but if they are thrown quickly 

 into the water, they will, certainly, as a rule recover their strength. 



