THE SOLE, (Solea vulgaris,)
Is well known as a very excellent fish, whose flesh is firm, delicate, and of a pleasing flavour. Soles grow to the length of eighteen inches, and even more, in some of our seas. They are often found of this size and superiority in Torbay, whence they are sent to market at Exeter and several other towns in Devonshire and the adjacent counties. They are found also in the Mediterranean and several other seas, and, when in season, are in great requisition for the most luxurious tables. The upper part of the body is brown; the under part white; one of the pectoral fins is tipped with black, the sides are yellow, and the tail rounded at the extremity. It is said that the small Soles, caught in the northern seas, are of a much superior taste to the large ones, which the southern and western coasts afford.
This fish has also the quality of keeping sweet and good for several days, even in hot weather, and is thought to acquire a more delicate flavour by being thus kept. On this account it is that Soles in the London markets are frequently more esteemed than those which are cooked immediately after they are taken out of the sea.
In the economy of flat fish we have an account of one circumstance which is very remarkable: among various other marine productions, they have been known to feed on shell-fish, although they are furnished with no apparatus whatever in their mouth which would seem to be adapted for reducing these to a state calculated for digestion.