THE TURBOT. (Rhombus maximus.)
The Turbot is a well-known fish, and much esteemed for the delicate taste, firmness, and sweetness of its flesh. Juvenal, in his fourth Satire, gives us a very ludicrous description of the Roman emperor Domitian assembling the Senate to decide how and with what sauce this fish should be eaten. The Turbot is sometimes two feet and a half long, and about two broad. The scales on the skin are so very small that they are hardly perceptible. The colour of the upper side of the body is a dark brown, spotted with dirty yellow; the under side a pure white, tinged on the edges with a somewhat flesh-colour, or pale pink. There is a great difficulty in baiting the Turbot, as it is very fastidious in its food. Nothing can allure it but herrings or small slices of haddocks, and lampreys; and as it lies in deep water, flirting and paddling on the ooze at the bottom of the sea, no net can reach it, so that it is generally caught by hook and line. It is found chiefly on the northern coasts of England, Scotland, and Holland.
THE PLAICE, (Platessa vulgaris,)
A well-known English fish, nearly allied to the turbot. It has smooth sides, an anal spine, and the eyes and six tubercles are placed on the same side of the head. The body is very flat, and the upper part of the fish of a clear brown colour, marked with orange-coloured spots, and the belly white. Plaice spawn in the beginning of February, and when full-grown assume something like the shape of a turbot; but the flesh is very different, being soft and nearly tasteless.