The family of Flat-fishes (Pleuronectidæ) present many interesting points of structure and habit in which they stand alone, the variations in structure as compared with other fishes being due, of course, to the habits which they have acquired.
One of the first features that strike the observer on looking at a flat-fish is the unsymmetrical form of the body. It is very much compressed, and the fish having acquired the habit of lying on the bed of the sea, sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right side, the lower surface has become flattened more, and is of an almost pure white colour, while the upper convex side is more or less coloured with pigment produced by exposure to light. The dorsal and ventral fins are both very long; and, as is usual with bottom fishes, the swimming or air bladder is absent.
Young flat-fish are at first perfectly symmetrical in form, with one eye on each side of the head, and they swim freely in the water with their bodies in a vertical plane; but they very soon acquire the habit of swimming on one side, and the eye of that side slowly passes round to the other side of the skull, rotating in its orbit as it moves, till at last both are on the uppermost surface. This, of course, is accompanied by a considerable distortion of the bones of the skull, which is very evident in the skeleton of the adult. The young fish then takes to the bottom, with the result that its under-surface is flattened, while the upper becomes strongly pigmented.
These fish spend almost the whole of their time on the bottom, only occasionally rising for short intervals, when they swim by undulatory movements of their bodies and fins; their food consists of crustaceans, worms, and other small marine animals.
They furnish very interesting illustrations of protective colouring, the upper surface always closely resembling the ground on which they rest and feed; and thus they are not only protected from their own enemies, but are enabled to lie unseen by the animals that form their prey. Those which live on sandy shores are finely spotted with colours that closely imitate the sand, while those that lie on mud are of dark and dingy hues. Others, again, are irregularly marked with spots of various sizes and colours that resemble a gravelly bottom; and most species are still further protected by their habit of throwing sand or mud on the top of their bodies by means of their dorsal and ventral fins.
Small flat-fishes, especially young Plaice and Flounders, live so close to the shore that they are often left behind in rock pools and sandy hollows by the receding tide, and it is very interesting to observe the habits of these in their natural conditions. It will generally be noticed that it is most difficult to detect them while they are at rest; and when disturbed, they usually swim but a short distance, settling down very abruptly, and immediately throwing a little sand over their bodies by a few vibrations of their fins.
Another peculiarity of some of the flat-fishes is their indifference to the nature of the water in which they live. Flounders may not only be caught in the estuaries of our rivers, but they even ascend to, and apparently live perpetually in, perfectly fresh water. In many instances they may be seen miles from the sea, and even flourishing in little fresh-water streams only a few feet in width. Thus they may be found in numbers in the upper waters of the small rivers of the Isle of Wight and of many streams of the mainland.
The principal British flat-fishes are the Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) and Flounder (P. flexus) above mentioned, and also the Sole (Solea vulgaris), the Lemon Sole (S. aurantiaca), the Turbot (Rhombus maximus), and the Halibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris); and as all these are well-known food-fishes it is hardly necessary to describe them.
