When near the ground they swim slowly and horizontally, but if suddenly disturbed they change the horizontal to the vertical position, darting along with meteor-like rapidity, and then again quickly resuming their inactive habits at the bottom of the water. Plaice feed on small fish and young crustacea, and have sometimes been taken on our coasts weighing fifteen pounds, but a fish half that weight is considered very large. The finest kind, called Diamond Plaice, are caught on the Sussex coast. These fish are in considerable demand as food, though by no means equal to the turbot and sole. Those of a moderate size are reckoned the best eating.
THE FLOUNDER. (Platessa flesus.)
The principal distinction between the plaice and the Flounder consists in the former having a row of six tubercles behind the left eye, of which this fish is entirely destitute; it is also a little longer in the body, and, when full-grown, somewhat thicker. The back is of a dark olive colour, spotted. In taste, they are reckoned more delicate than the plaice. They live long after being taken out of their element, and are often cried in the streets of London, but they seldom appear on the tables of the rich and dainty. They are common in the British rivers, and in all large rivers which obey the impression of the tide, and they feed upon worms bred in the mud at the bottom of the water.