Fig. 373. The Dab (Platessa limanda).
The Dab, P. limanda (Fig. 373), is very common in the markets of Paris, where it is held in great esteem. It takes its name Limanda from the hard and dentate scales on its body. The Platessa have the jaws furnished with a single row of obtuse teeth; the dorsal fin only extends in front to a line with the eye, leaving an interval between it and the caudal. The form of the body is rhomboidal, as in the turbot, and the eyes are usually on the right side. The flounder, the plaice, and the dab, are all examples of this group of fishes.
The Halibut, Hippoglossus vulgaris (Fig. 374), is a large fish, inhabiting the seas of Northern Europe and Greenland, where it is occasionally caught measuring seven feet, and weighing from three to four hundred pounds. A fish of this species was brought to Edinburgh market in April, 1828, measuring seven feet and a half in length and three feet broad, weighing three hundred and twenty pounds. The body of the halibut is more elongated than that of the plaice or flounder, the jaws and pharyngeans being armed with strong and pointed teeth.
Great quantities of this fish are caught on the Greenland and Norway coasts, and other northern regions. According to Lacepede, the natives fish for this with an implement which they call gangnaed. It is composed of a hempen cord five or six hundred yards in length, to which are attached some thirty smaller cords, each furnished with a barbed hook at its extremity. The larger cord is attached to floating planks, which act as trimmers, indicating the place of this formidable engine of destruction.
Plate XXVVIII.—Natives fishing for Halibut on the Greenland Coast.
The Greenlanders usually replace the hempen cords by thongs of whalebone or narrow bands of shark's skin. At the end of twenty hours these lines are drawn home, and it is not at all unusual to find five or six large halibut caught on the hooks. Pl. XXVIII. represents the native mode of fishing for halibut in the Greenland Seas.
Fig. 374. The Halibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris).
Another mode of capturing this and other flat-fish is to spear them on their sandy beds. "No rule can be laid down," says Dr. Bertram, "for this method of fishing. It is carried on successfully by means of a common pitchfork, but some gentlemen go the length of fine spears made for the purpose, very long, and with very sharp prongs. Others, again, use a three-pronged farmyard graip, which has been known to do as much real work as more elaborate single points contrived for the purpose. The simplest directions I can give is just to spear every fish they see." M. Figuier adds, as a caution, that before attacking these fishes, body to body, it is necessary to wait till they are somewhat exhausted, otherwise they might overturn both bark and fisherman.