Fig. 371. The Turbot (Rhombus maximus).
The Flounders and Plaice (Platessa) inhabit the northern seas of Europe. They have their eyes placed on the right side; the dorsal as well as the anal fin extending from over the eyes to the caudal, both stretching out to a point towards the centre, giving a rhombic form to the fish. In Platessa the jaws are furnished with a single row of obtuse teeth.
The Common Plaice, P. vulgaris (Fig. 372), attains the length of ten or twelve inches; it is brown above, spotted with red or orange. On the eye-side of the head are some osseous tubercles. The body, which is somewhat lozenge-shaped, is smooth.
Fig. 372. The Common Plaice (Platessa vulgaris).
The Flounders (P. flesus) are fresh-water fishes of small size, abundant in the Thames and many other rivers; they are only second in importance to the soles and turbot among the Pleuronectidæ; the numbers of brill, flounders, dab, and plaice required being close upon a hundred million for the supply of London alone.
The usual mode of capturing flat-fish is by means of a trawl-net, but many varieties of these may be caught with a hand-line. "A day's sea-fishing," says Dr. Bertram, in his "Harvest of the Sea," "will be chequered by many little adventures. There are various minor monsters of the deep that will vary the monotony of the day by occasionally devouring the bait. A tadpole fish, better known as the sea-devil, or angler, may be hooked; or a visit from a hammer-headed shark, or a pile-fish, will add greatly to the excitement; and if the 'dogs' should be at all plentiful, it is a chance if a single fish be got out of the sea in its integrity. So voracious are these Squalidæ, that I have often enough pulled a mere skeleton into the boat, instead of a plump cod of ten or twelve pounds weight."
