44 
A THREE-EYED DAB. 
By PROFESSOR A. MEEK. 
On January 10th, 1909, a mature female Long Rough Dab, 
Hippoglossoides limandoides , measuring 19 cm., was sent to me by 
Mr. T. Dunn because it possessed a third eye, sub- symmetrically 
placed behind the normal pair, with the information that it had 
been obtained from a basket of small ‘ flats ’ on the Fish Quay at 
North Shields. 
The specimen was photographed, and a careful dissection was 
entered upon. I noted a small but not at all prominent transverse 
cut behind the important looking third eye, but that did not prepare 
me for finding the eye in question quite loose in a cavity behind the 
normal right eye. It was not connected with anything in the head. 
There was a remnant of evidently the inferior oblique muscle, and 
the optic nerve had been cut close to the eye. I actually cut the 
latter into sections before I wrote in my laboratory diary : “ It was 
therefore a clever deception.” 
The sequel was furnished by Mr. Storrow. On Whit Tuesday, 
1910, a visitor to the Laboratory, who turned out to be the cook of a 
Shields trawler, enquired of Mr. Storrow whether he had ever seen 
a dab with three eyes. He was told the nature of the one which 
had come into our hands, and he then confessed to having prepared 
it. He said that after practising on several fish he was able to 
make “ three-eyed dabs,” and so successfully as to deceive 
those who were constantly handling fish. He also saw that some 
of these were put on baskets of fish placed on the market at North 
Shields. 
As it is possible that examples of these prepared curiosities 
may have been sent to others, I have thought it well to publish 
this short account. 
