LEMON DAB. 
385 
side, and extends in an arcuate shape nearly to the 
caudal tin. The distance between these tins is less than 
1 / 4 of the least depth of the tail. As a rule the dorsal 
tin contains from 87 to 98 rays, all simple, with soft, 
bent tips. The anal fin in shape resembles the dorsal, 
begins just behind the vent, at a distance from the tip 
of the snout that measures between 19 and 22 % of the 
length of the body, and ends exactly opposite the ter- 
mination of the dorsal tin. The caudal fin is fairly 
long — during the growth of the body from 15 to 30 
cm., its length at the middle varies between 18 and 
16 % of the length of the body — and rounded at the 
tip. It contains 14 or 15 branched rays, and 2 or 3 
supporting rays at either margin. 
The pectoral tins are almost elliptical. The pectoral 
tin of the blind side is only slightly shorter than that 
of the eye side or equal in length to the latter, the 
length of which is about equal to the least depth of the 
tail or the length of the longest rays of the dorsal fin. 
One, two or three of the uppermost rays are simple, 
the others, usually with the exception of the lowest ray, 
branched. The ventral tins are small and contain but 
few rays, their number varying, however, between 4 
and 6; the outermost ray and, as a rule, the inner- 
most are simple, the others branched. No constant 
sexual distinction can be drawn from the length of 
either the pectoral or the ventral tins. 
The coloration of the body in new-caught, young 
specimens is red, marbled with blackish brown. In very 
old specimens, or when the fish is dead, the coloration 
grows darker, and generally becomes yellowish gray 
marbled with grayish brown. The blind side is always 
pure white, in exceptional cases with some grayish 
brown spots at the base of the caudal tin. Only seldom 
do we find the body adorned here and there with scat- 
tered, simple, or large, ocellated spots of a bluish or 
greenish colour. The fins always retain the colour of 
the body, though the tips of the anterior rays both in 
the dorsal tin and the anal are always white. We have 
already noticed the carnation lips and the orange rim 
of the gill-cover. The iris is brassy yellow, and the 
pupil greenish blue. 
The internal organs almost exactly resemble those 
of the preceding species. The peritoneum is more or 
less dark on the eye side and on the blind side faint 
brassy yellow or white. Only one coil of the intestine 
enters the secondary abdominal cavity of the eye side. 
There are four pyloric appendages of various sizes. The 
length of the intestinal canal is about equal to that of 
the body. The liver is large and divided into four 
lobes, the gall-bladder also large, and the spleen, which 
is long and triangular, lies as in the preceding species. 
The secondary abdominal cavity of the eye side, in a 
female 28 cm. long, measures 38 % of the length of the 
body, and extends back to the interhannal spine of the 
20th ray in the anal fin, counting from behind; while 
the length of the abdominal cavity proper is only about 
1 3 b'g % of that of the body. 
On the European side of the Atlantic the geogra- 
phical range of the Lemon Dab is about the same as 
that of the preceding species, extending from the White 
Sea to the neighbourhood of Arcachon on the west coast 
of France, and to Iceland. On the other hand, to the 
best of our knowledge, it does not descend into very 
deep water. Like the Pole it has been found once or 
twice in the south-west of the Baltic, off Kiel; but it 
does not enter the Baltic proper. According to Scha- 
gerstrom it is not unfrequently met with in the Sound. 
It is known by the fishermen of Kullen, on account of 
its thick lips, as pluddennun (Babble-mouth), and by the 
fishermen of Landskrona as monflundra (Mouth-flounder). 
It is also taken frequently, according to Gottsche, by 
the fishermen of Zealand, off Gilleleie and Skovshoved, 
where it is called stensugare (Stone-sucker). The name 
of mareflundra (Sea-flounder) is applied by the fishermen 
of the Sound to almost all the less known Flatfishes, 
according to Schagerstrom. Furthermore, the nomen- 
clature employed by our fishermen is so wanting in 
accuracy that the Lemon Dab also goes by the name of 
tunga (Sole). It prefers a stony and rocky bottom, and 
is, therefore, known in the island-belt of Tjorn as berg- 
skadda (Rock-dab), and in the north of Bohuslan, ac- 
cording to Cederstrom, as bergflundra (Rock-flounder). 
Off Bergen, where it is taken in large numbers, it bears 
the name of sandflundra, according to Nilsson. It lives 
on mollusks, worms, and crustaceans; and its pharyngeal 
teeth seem especially adapted to the last two kinds of 
food. Ekstrom found in its stomach some sprigs, about 
an inch long, of Fucacece (Furcellaria fastigiota, Hali- 
drys siliquosa etc.), but he was probably right in his 
assumption that they had been swallowed together 
with the food, more than for the sake of any nourish- 
ment they might afford. In Bohuslan the spawn- 
ing-season of the Lemon Dab occurs in June. It is 
generally taken in Flounder-nets together with the 
Plaice, but in Scandinavia it is by no means so com- 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
49 
