This page has been validated.
FLAT-FISHES.
265
One of the most esteemed of British fishes is found in this genus, the Turbot (Rhomhus maximus, Linn.); which is also one of the largest species of the Family. In form it is nearly square, the head and tail being at opposite angles. Two feet in diagonal diameter may be considered as a fair size; but individuals are sometimes
found much larger. Rondelet states that he has seen one five cubits (or seven and a half feet) in length, four in breadth, and a foot in thickness. Mr. Couch notices one which weighed seventy pounds, taken in 1730, near Plymouth; and another is said to have been taken in 1832, near Whitby, weighing a hundred and ninety pounds. The left or upper side is of a dark brown hue,