The specimen I allude to I took home, and observed at leisure. In a
white saucer it was a charming little object, though rather difficult
to examine, because, the instant the eye with the lens was brought
near, it flounced in alarm, and often leaped out upon the table. When
its fit of terror was over, however, it became still, and would allow
me to push it hither and thither, merely waving the edges of its dorsal
and ventral fins rapidly as it yielded to the impulse. The shape of
these fins gives to the outline of the fish a form resembling an
oblong parallelogram with the corners rounded, and the fan-like tail
projecting; but the outline of the body is much more oval. The first
ray of the dorsal is a little lengthened; whence the name of Topknot.
We have two little species of Turbot with this peculiarity, called
Muller’s Topknot, and Bloch’s Topknot. This was the former. Yarrell,
indeed, distinguishes the two by saying that this one has “the first
ray of the dorsal not longer than the succeeding rays;” or, in other
words, that it has no topknot at all. It may be that it is obliterated
in age, but in this half-grown specimen, it was quite conspicuous,
projecting like a little horn from the forehead, about one-fourth
longer than the second and following rays. In Bloch’s Topknot it is,
indeed, more marked, for it there runs off into a slender filament,
of more than twice the length of the rays. The fins were exquisitely
delicate, and were very pretty in their markings, every tenth or
twelfth ray being black interrupted with white; the middle ray between
these was black at the tip, and the central one of these subordinate
divisions was again more slightly specked. This had a very pretty
effect. The body was pellucid yellowish brown, studded with irregular
faint clouds and stronger specks of dark brown, and bearing one
conspicuous ring-like mark near the tail The flesh was so translucent,
that the stomach and principal viscera could be distinctly seen, and
the accumulation of the chief blood-vessels here, gave a crimson flush
to these parts.
Alarm had a curious effect, probably dependent on the quickening of
the circulation. When I tried to catch the little fish, all the spots
and markings became instantly deepened and vivified, and particularly
those of the fins, so that the change seemed magical. I have observed
the same thing in the Gobies, and some other fishes.
The eyes were very beautiful and interesting. As in all this family of
Flat-fishes, they are set close together on the same side of the head,
the upper one inclined slightly upward, the lower downward. Viewed
with a lens, the iris was seen to be pale green, with radiating dark
bands, and the pupil surrounded by an edge-line of ruddy gold. The iris
projects into the pupil with an angle, making it crescent-shaped. The
eyes move quite independently of each other, and very curious it was
to look down with a lens upon the quaint little face, and see one eye
quickly turned up towards the beholder, while the other remained still,
or presently turned in the opposite direction.
Now and then it curved the head and tail downwards, and leaped out of
water, clearing the side of the saucer in which it was confined; then,
when put back, it lay some seconds on its back (or rather on its wrong
side), with the dorsal and ventrals incurved, and thus the whole body
concave, as if in tetanus; but when turned over it soon recovered.