224 SALT-WATER FISHES 



The number of rays in the ventral fin is about seventy-five, 

 one or two more or less, and therefore far in excess of the 

 number in any other British flat-fish, except the witch. As in 

 the foregoing kinds, the eyes and colour are on the right side. 

 The largest recorded lemon dab measured i8 in. 



This fish, also known as " merry sole," occurs on every 

 part of our coasts. It is a northern form, absent from the 

 Mediterranean. 



The lemon dab, which reaches maturity at a length of 

 between 6 in. and 8 in., spawns over a long period, chiefly 

 between March and May in the Plymouth district, but else- 

 where from February until June. That is to say, it would not 

 spawn through all those months in any one locality, but in 

 some parts it might spawn as early as the first-named month, 

 while in others it would not be done spawning until the last. 

 Not only does the lemon dab spawn at a considerable distance 

 from land, but is throughout life a moderately deep-water fish. 



The egg, which was first studied during the 1884 Forth 

 trawling expeditions, is small, measuring only a little over 

 2^ in., and is thus intermediate between those of the plaice 

 and flounder, closely resembling both in structure, though 

 Mcintosh distinguishes in it a peculiar sheen, which he attri- 

 butes to the wrinkled surface of the capsule, comparable in 

 appearance to Morocco leather. The egg has no oil-globule, 

 and floats in the water. The larva is slender in shape, and 

 measures about \ in., showing well-developed, dull, greenish- 

 yellow spots. It is extremely hardy, having been known to 

 live six days in a small glass cell only ^ in. deep.* 



Mcintosh and Masterman give an interesting series of 

 figures of the lemon dab in nine stages, a July specimen 

 showing a remarkably conspicuous blue eye. Cunningham 

 remarks that the later larval stages had never (previously to 

 1896) been taken, except during the Irish survey, when they 

 were described by Holt. That naturalist was also the first to 

 * Mcintosh and Masterman, op. cit., p. 369. 



