^ io Anacanths. FISHES. Echeneiuans. 
land that still lie at a distance from the railways as 
well as from the coast, Soles are almost the only 
marine fish that can be procured. The Flounders and 
Soles come into shallow water ; and on the flat sands 
of the Solway Filth are often taken by the women and 
children wading over the sank-banks, who, when the 
fish is felt under the naked foot, press it down until 
it can be grasped behind the head, and transferred to 
a basket. Greater quantities are captured in weirs or 
trawl nets ; and the Turbot and Holibut which inhabit 
deeper water, are mostly taken by lines and hooks 
baited with herrings, pilchards, smelts, lob-worms, 
molluscs, &c. 
THE TURBOT {Psetta maxima, or Passer of Valen- 
ciennes) is the most highly esteemed for the table of 
this famil}' of fishes, and bears a high price in the Lon- 
don market, as being, while it is in season, indispen- 
sable at all formal dinner parties. Not only are great 
numbers of British fishermen employed in procuring 
this coveted article of luxury, hut recourse is had to 
the industry of other nations for a sufficient supply 
to our markets. Yarrell informs us that the Dutch 
receive annually £80,000 for turbots carried to the 
London market; and the Norwegians £15,000 for 
lobsters, to make sauce to them. Turbot fisheries are 
pursued on the coasts of Scandinavia, Holland, France, 
and Britain. Those which are caught in rocky places 
are supposed to have the firmest flesh and the finest 
flavour. 
The mode of taking Turbots by the Scarborough 
fishermen is described as follows by Pennant : — Each 
person is provided with three lines, which are coiled 
on a flat oblong piece of wicker-work, the hooks being 
baited and placed regularly in the centre of the coil. 
Fourteen score of hooks are attached, six feet two 
inches apart, to each line, by sneads of twisted horse- 
hair twenty-seven inches in length. In fishing there 
are three men to each coble, and, consequently, nine 
lines, which being joined together end by end, reach 
nearly three miles, and hear two thousand five hundred 
and twenty hooks. A buoy and anchor are fastened 
to each line, and the whole series is placed at low 
water across the current of flood and ebb. The best 
baits are herrings and lampreys — the latter being 
brought in the winter-time from Tadcaster. Small 
shell-molluscs put on the hook alive, are also favourite 
baits ; and the Turbot will not take a bait cut from a 
fish that has been above twelve hours out of the sea. 
Tlie lines are shot and hauled at every turn of tide ; 
and some fishermen shoot one set of lines while they 
are taking up the other. 
THE HOLIBUT {Hippoglossiis vulgaris) is the largest 
fish of the family, and has been taken on the Scottish 
coast weighing three hundredweight. It is often sold 
in our markets under the name of Turbot, hut is of 
inferior quality to that fish. It is very voracious, and 
devours cod, skates, and crustaceans, attacking even 
large fish and biting pieces out of them. The Holibut 
is sold fresh, cut in slices ; and on the Norway coast 
the slices are salted like herrings, or, after being 
slightly salted and rolled, are hung up in the shade and 
dried. A distinction is made of three different portions 
of the prepared fish — viz., the fins, which arc named 
in Danish raff; the fat slices, which are called rcedcel ; 
and the lean ones share flog. The Holibut was called 
Helgar flshar in the old Norse language ; and its 
English denomination has a similar meaning of Holy 
flounder — hut or hot being the Dutch for Flounder. The 
Helgar flshar is mentioned in the Icelandic annals as 
having been procured abundantly on the coast of Massa- 
chusetts by the Greenlandic discoverers of America in 
the eleventh century. In the following list of fishes, 
taken by Havelock the Dane, the Turbot, the Flounder, 
and the Sole are included : — 
“ Mani god tish ther inne he tok, 
Both with neth and with hok. 
He tok the sturgiun and the qiial; 
And the turbut and lax withal ; 
He tok the sele and the hwel ; 
Keling he tok, and tumberel ; 
liering and the malxrel ; 
The hutte, the schulle, the thornbaJce ; 
God paniers did he make.”* 
Family VIL— -ECHENEIDANS, or SHIP- 
STAYERS. 
Puppis retinct in inediis Echeneis aquis. — (Lucian, p. 675.) 
The position of this family has not been satisfac- 
torily ascertained. Some ichthyologists considering the 
cephalic disc to be a modified spinous dorsal, have 
ranged the Echeneidans with the Squamipennes or the 
Scomhrids. We prefer placing the group provision- 
ally among the Anacanths. The members of the 
family are included in the single genus Echeneis, a 
Greek appellation, which is translated Remora by 
Pliny ; and are remarkable and peculiar in having the 
perfectly flat top of the head occupied by an adhesive 
organ, by means of which the Remora attaches itself 
strongly to other fishes, or to rocks or ships’ bottoms. 
The adhesive disc is formed of pairs of transverse 
ridges or plaits, edged with short slender bristles. As 
to general form, the Echeneidans are longish, and taper 
towards the caudal fin, without keel or crests on the 
tail. The head is the widest part ; and the mouth, 
which is small or of moderate size, is cleft horizontally. 
Villiform bands of teeth arm the jaws; and the vomer 
and tongue are likewise rough. Branchiostegals seven 
or eight in number. Skin smooth to the touch, hut 
containing minute imbedded scales. Stomach large, 
with a hag-like projection, followed by a short, wide 
intestine, and a moderate number of pyloric caeca. The 
air-bladder is absent. 
The Remora swims awkwardly ; and owing to its 
convex throat, and flat head and nape, has the aspect 
of a fish with the belly uppermost. Its disagreeable 
appearance jnevents it from being often used for food; 
but sailors sometimes eat it, and it is not poisonous. 
Seemingly it prefers being transported from place to 
place on ships’ bottoms, or the bodies of sharks, to 
swimming far by its own exertions ; and in the warmer 
parts of the ocean it avails itself of that mode of ges- 
tation in banrls of nine or ten, or more individuals. 
* From Notes and Queries. Second series, vi., 317.— Qual 
and hwel, grampus, or porpoise; Lax, salmon ; Sele, seal ; Keling, 
cod-fish; Tumberel (?), Tumlare, porpoise (?) ; Butte, flounder; 
and Schulle, sole. 
