TURBOT. 
439 
fairly rare®, as well as in Kiel Bay, where according 
to Mobius and Heincke, however, Turbots weighing 
10 kgm. are sometimes found. Off Bornholm according 
to K Royer, it is quite common. From the Cattegat it 
sometimes penetrates into Liim Fjord, and like most of 
the Flatfishes, finds more congenial haunts on the Da- 
nish coast than on the Swedish, though it occurs all 
the way from the Sound along the coasts of Halland 
and Bohuslan. According to v. Yi-ilen 6 3,906 Turbot 
were brought to Gothenburg market during the year 
1879; but a large portion of them probably came from 
the Skaw. In the North Sea the Turbot-fishery is still 
more important. “Turbot are found,” says Holdsworth 6 , 
“more or less on all parts of the coast; the North Sea 
has long been famous for these fish, especially along the 
Dutch shore, where, during warm weather, they are 
caught in very shallow water. Large supplies of Turbot 
were formerly sent by the Dutch fishermen to the Lon- 
don market long before our own trawlers had established 
themselves on our eastern coast, or had found out how 
much was to be done in the North Sea. There are many 
of these fish also caught in the Channel, wherever there 
is trawling ground, and no doubt they are numerous 
in many places where, on account either of the depth 
of water or the nature of the bottom, no trawl has 
ever been worked. We have heard of extraordinary 
catches of turbot having been made in the neigh- 
bourhood of Wolf Rock, near the Land’s End; but the 
depth of the water there and the frequent heavy sea 
make it difficult to trawl successfully on that ground.” 
From the latest statistics in “The Fish Trades Gazette” 
for 1889, Jan. 12th and 26th, we learn that the quan- 
tities of Turbot caught by English fishermen or brought 
to English harbours during the years 1887 and 1888 was: 
1887 
1888 
Cwts 
£ 
Cwts 
£ 
England. 
63.166 
co 
55.020 
175.101 
Scotland 
5.285 
14.425 
5.422 
16.311 
Ireland 1 ' 
— 
— 
1.211 
4.260 
Total 
— — 
61.653 
195.672 
In the Mediterranean too, the Turbot is common 
and in great request 6 , and is said there to be largest 
in the Adriatic Sea. 
The Turbot, at least at certain seasons, prefers a 
sandy bottom, pure or mixed with mud. Those spots 
in the English Channel and the North Sea where it is 
most abundant, are of this nature, in from 40 or 50 
to 10 fathoms of water. But according to Couch it 
seems to be a migratory fish which moves very swiftly 
in small shoals and is sometimes to be found at the 
surface. We learn from France 7 that the best Turbot 
are taken with hook and line on a rocky bottom. The 
nature of the bottom preferred by the Turbot may 
thus vary considerably. Like most other large fishes, 
the Turbot retires in winter to deeper water and ascends 
in spring to shallower spots. From the Dutch fishery 
it also appears that in the North Sea, during spring 
and summer, the Turbot moves from the south in a 
northward direction. The Dutch fishermen begin 7 their 
Turbot-fishery about the end of March, just south of 
Scheveningen, but gradually move northwards, reaching 
Heligoland at the beginning of June, and fishing there 
to the middle of August, when the fishery generally 
closes for the season. Kroyer quotes an observation 
of the Danish fishermen off Moen to the effect that in 
spring the Turbot comes close in shore. With regard 
to the fishery in Bohuslan Malm makes almost the 
same remark, with the addition that “small specimens 
about 150 mm. long are not unfrequently taken in the 
seine at a depth of from 3 to 6 fathoms, at the head 
of the fjords, in places where the bottom is of a. suit- 
able nature.” 
The food of the Turbot is composed principally of 
fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. Olsson ;< found in the 
stomach of a full-grown Turbot a large Haddock, and 
in a young specimen a small Plaice, Sand-eels, Pipe- 
fishes ( Synfjnathi ) and examples of the Freckled Goby 
( Gob ins minutus). Day states that he found a mixture 
of crabs, shrimps, and starfish in the stomach of a Tur- 
bot. Thus the Turbot seems to be no dainty eater; 
but it is very particular as to the quality of the bait 
“ See Lilljeborg, 1. c., p. 317. 
h Intern. Fisehereiausstell. Berl. 1880, Schwed. Catal., T, 2, tab. 1. 
c Deep- Sea-Fish-, p. 00. 
d Complete reports from Ireland for the year 1887 are wanting. 
e Espos. intern, di Pesca in Berlino 1880, Sez. Ital. Catal., p. 98 (Giglioli) and p. 180 (Ni.nni). 
j BlanchIsre, Nouv. Diet. Gen. cl. Peches , p. 807. 
g Yarr, Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. II, p. 325. 
h Iulctt. skand. fisle. fuda, Lunds Univ. Arsskrift, tom. VIII (1871), p. 10 (sep.). 
