North Sea fishes - Part 1
North Sea fishes - Part 1
Whiting
Haddock
Bastard mackerel
European anchovy
Sorts of fishes.We distinguish three types of fishes according to their habitat in sea on the bottom, at the surface or in between. On the bottom we find the flatfishes, such as turbot, sole and plaice, who feeds themselves with small animals they find on or in the sea bottom. Near the surface we find herring, mackerel and sprat, nourishing themselves with plankton and small fishes. There in between live the fishes of prey. Predatory fishes, such as cod fish and haddock eat bottom fish. Predatory fishes, such as garfish, sea bass and whiting eat fishes near the surface.
The fishes at the bottom of the sea have at their upper side protective coloring in conformity with the colors of the bottom, to be this way hardly traceable for the predatory fishes. Their white lower part lies flat on the bottom (plaice) or in the bottom (sole).
The fishes at the surface have at their upper part a green blue color in conformity with the color of the marine water as seen from above by people and sea birds, their natural enemies. At the lower part the color is silver white, being this way almost invisibly for predatory fishes during the day by the entering sunlight.
Plaice
The plaice.
If we use a dutch dictionary, we find the description for a plaice as a flatfish with red spots. If we ask a northsea fisherman about this, then he can tell us that there are also plaices with green, brown or orange colored spots. This coincides with the origin of the plaice and the color of the bottom of the sea, where the plaice is found. Biologists call that mimicry, this is the property of a lot of animals to adapt in form and color to the surroundings, as a result of which they are hardly to find for their natural enemies. Also the form of the plaice is particular, namely as flat as a plaice.
As a second meaning the dutch dictionary gives for a plaice the denomination plate, such as ice plate or earth plate. Also the form of the plaice as a plate is mimicry. The side of a normal fish is for the plaice the upper part and the eyes sit aside, what then is above for the plaice. This is for the plaice except to mislead a predatory fish, also skillfully at rooting in the bottom to search for worms. The tail does not moves back and forth but up and down.
From the form and color we can infer that the plaice is a bottom fish and that flat on the bottom his life is most safe, because of the white lower part. The plaice is thus caught with trawls, which are drawn over the northsea bottom up to eighty meters depth. At dragging the nets over the bottom, this bottom is routed or ploughed, as a result of which food is released for other fishes and minerals for bottom plants. For this reason a fisherman returns more often to an earlier fished area. The denomination robbery fishing for this form of fishing testifies thus of a certain degree of ignorance concerning the real state of the art.
Sole, dover
The sole.
The sole distinguishes himself from the plaice by its crooked mouth and right orientation, this means that the eyes are found right instead of left, like by the sole. The sole has in conformity wit his name a tongue shaped body, which is covered with white and black spots on the brown upper part. In a catch, this the capture from the trawls, sits approximately four times more plaices than soles, as a result of which the price of the sole is considerably larger than those of the plaice. As well as we see at the sole the average age of the caught fish is between six and the twelve years and the length varies from 30 up to 50 cm by the sole and from 40 up to 60 cm by the plaice.Also we find the more rare French sole in the North Sea. This fish is almost two times smaller than the ordinary sole and something brighter of color, where the drawing of the spots on the brown upper part is less notable. We find a nice black spot in the middle of the pectoral exactly behind the head by the French sole and at the end of this fin by the ordinary sole.
The both soles feed themselves with worms and mollusks on the sea bottom and are nocturnal animals. By daytime the sole covers himself with sand and lays lazy down this way the whole day, with only the head uncovered to be able to breathe by means of the gills. The view is considerably worse and the sense of smell and taste better developed compared with the plaice. The sideline, which is found on ordinary fishes aside, but on the flatfishes goes over the middle of the upper part, is by soles beautiful right and by the plaices behind the head something bent. This sideline, which we find on all fishes, is a sensual organ, with which the fish can observe their enemies, obstacles and so on in its neighborhood.
Brill
Left and right.
As a child I had already problems with left and right. You must remain at the right-hand side of the road, when bicycling in the Netherlands, which is that side of the handlebar, where the bell not is placed. A fisherman gave me also a solution. Your right hand is that hand where the thumb sits left.
If two plaices are looking at each other, then they see each other as in a mirror? I tried it out and not at all. The one sees to the other upside down, if they should swim uprightly. However a sole and a plaice can look at each other both uprightly, but do not see then something what looks as each other's mirror picture. That is so because the sole carries his head right and the plaice carries his head left. A mirror turns left to right and only on a photograph you can see how you really look.
The price of sole per kilogram lies four times higher than the price of plaice. Not because a fried or stewed sole tastes four times more deliciously, but because we find the plaice four times more often than the sole. The current price of a kilo sole lies at the fish auction round 10 Euro and of a kilo plaice round 2.50 Euro (year 2005). When I twenty years ago also went with a northsea cutter, I heard the same prices, but then in old-fashioned Dutch guilders.
The turbot provides the most money per kilogram, round 20 Euro for the large sorts. About these and other fishes, I hope to tell you soon more on this internet site, as well as about sea birds.
Thornback, stingray
Many web links at our web page: Data for North Sea fishes
Prices of seafish at the fish auction Urk / Harlingen in the Netherlands.
Prices in euro of seafish in October 2005 per kilogram and middled after size of the fishes. In general make bigger fisher per kilogram cosiderably more money than the smaller fishes of the same kind at the auction.
Sole, dover 12
Turbot 15
Brill 9
Sea devil 4
Lemon sole 5
Red mullet 3Plaice 3
Cod, codfisch 3
Whiting 2
Haddock 2
Dab 1
Red Gurnard 1Hake 1
Whelk 1
Dogfish 3
Blue ling 2
Crayfish, lobster 5
Remaining 1
The table limited itself to the most important eatable fishes caught by the seabottom fishery. For lovers of languages, see the table for names of northsea fishes in other languages.
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