434 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
THE TURBOT (sw. pigghvarfven). 
BOTHUS MAXIMUS. 
Plate XVIII, fig. 1. 
Greatest, depth of the body more than 50 %, length of the head more than 28 %, postorbital length of the head 
more than 17 %, length of the maxillary bones more than 12 %, length of the right branch of the lower jaw more 
than 15 %, distance between the anal fin and the tip of the snout, more than 30 %, length of the base of the left, 
ventral fin more than 10 %, of the right ventral, fin more than 8 %, and greatest thickness of the body more than 
8 %, of the length of the body. First rays of the dorsal fin simple or only indistinctly branched. Number of rays 
in the dorsal fin less than 70, in the anal fin less than 50. Least depth of the tail less than 20%, and the length 
of the caudal fin at the middle less than 36 %, of the greatest, depth of the body. Body furnished on both sides 
or at least on the eye side with scattered, pointed, spinous tubercles, but otherwise naked, though furnished with 
soft, verrucose, closed scale-sacs mosaically arranged in the skin. 
R. br. 7; D. 57— 64"; A. 42 — 47 6 ; P. 12 c ; V. 6; C. 2 + 13 + 2; 
Lin. lat. por. ca 76 — 80 ad. pinn. caud; Vert. 30 — 31. 
Syn. Rhombus aculeatus , Rondel., De Pise., lib. XI, cap. II, p. 
310 (ipyczav Aristotelis credit; haud tamen liquet, quam 
families speciem sub hoc nomine meinoraverit Aristoteles); 
Schonev., Ichth., Nomencl., Slesv. Holst., p. 60; Gottsche, 
Wiegin. Arch. Naturg., I, 2 (1835), p. 172. 
Rhombus maximus, Will., Hist. Pise., lib. 4, cap. II, p. 94, 
tab. F, 2; Lin. ( Pleuronectes ), Fn. Suec., ed. I, p. 112 (ex 
Itin. gotl.), No. 298; Syst. Nat., ed. X, torn. I, p. 271; 
Qvens., Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1806, pp. 54 et 203; Nilss. 
Prodr. Ichth. Scand., p. 58; Ekstr., Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1834, 
p. 56 (var.): Schagerstr., Physiogr. Sallsk. Tidskr., p. 312; 
Kr. (Rhombus), Lawn. Fiske, vol. 2, p. 424; Sundev. (Pleu- 
ronectes), Stockh. L. Hush. Sallsk. Handl., H. 6 (1855), 
pp. 82 et 165; Nilss. (Rhombus), Bkarnl. Fn., Fisk., p. 636; 
Canestr., Arch. Zool., Anat., Fisiol., vol. I, fasc. I (Genua 
1861), p. 25, tav. Ill, fig. 1; Gthr, Vat. Brit. Mus., Fish., 
vol. IV, p. 407; Mgrn, Fiiil. Fiskar (disp.), p. 24 ; Lindstr., 
Gotl. L. Hush. Sallsk. Arsber. 1866, p. 24 (sep.) ; Steind., 
Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math. Naturw. Cl. LVII, i, (1868), 
p. 714; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1874, Tillsegsh., 
p. 137; ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 76; Malm, Gbgs , Boh. Fn., 
p. 510; Winth., Naturb. Tidsk. Kbhvn, ser. Ill, vol. XII, 
p. 37; Ben., Fisch., Fischer., Fischz. 0. u. TV. Preuss., 
p. 93; Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 338; Mela, 
Vert. Fenn., p. 305, tab. IX; MOb., Hcke, Fisch., Osts., 
p. 89; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. II, p. 11, tab. 
XCVI ; Coll. (Botluis), N. Mag. Naturv. Christ., Bd. 29 
(1884), p. 100; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. II, p. 305; 
Sundm., Mela, Finl. Fisk., tab. XXII. 
In size the Turbot comes second among the Scan- 
dinavian Flatfishes. Specimens 5 or 6 dm. long are not 
rare on the west coast. Nilsson states that a Turbot 
was once brought by the fishermen of Raa to the market 
of Lund, which was 68 cm. long and weighed 7 kgm., 
and that off Kullen Turbots weighing 16 kgm. are 
sometimes taken. In the North Sea and the Irish Sea 
still larger specimens occur; Thompson'* mentions one 
that weighed 20 kgm. According to Day’s observations 
the Turbot when 2 * 1 * * / s years old may have attained a 
weight of 10 lbs., and in 2 years more 20 lbs. About 
three feet or perhaps one metre is the maximum length 
that may with certainty be assigned to the Turbot; but 
Rondelet states that he saw a Turbot from the At- 
lantic 5 ells long, 4 ells broad and 1 foot thick, ac- 
cording to the measures then in use. To this statement 
we may trace the origin of the assertion which occurs 
in later writers, that the Turbot may attain a length 
of 7 V 2 ft/ These statements, it is true, are apparently 
borne out by others 7 ; but they are based merely on 
hearsay. 
The bodji is of a rounded rhomboid form. In 
typical females the greatest depth of the body is about 
60 %, and in males about 56 %, of the length of the 
body. To this we may add the greatest height of the 
dorsal and anal fins, which is comparatively less in old 
specimens than in young, but fairly alike in the case 
of both fins, varying in the former specimens between 
a Here, as in the case of the following fins, we confine ourselves to the numbers we have found in typical Turbots. In the inter- 
mediate forms the rays of the dorsal fin may be as many as 70 or, according to Moreau, 72. 
b According to Moreau sometimes 56. 
c Sometimes 11. 
•i Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. IV, p. 200. 
e Olsen, Piscatorial Atlas, pi. 41. 
I Couch (Fish. Brit. Isl., vol. Ill, p. 157) says that he “possessed a note of an example of which the weight was seventy pounds;” 
and Parnell (Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. VII, p. 375) quotes an account of a specimen “that weighed one hundred and ninety pounds 
measuring 6 feet across.” 
