[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
IS a flat fish, not unlike the carp in several points, but much broader in proportion with its length and thickness. They abide in the deepest parts of rivers, lakes and ponds. The scales are large and of a bright colour; the tail has the form of a crescent. They spawn in May, but when they are near that time they hide themselves so curiously in the ooze at the bottom of the water that they are very seldom found with either soft or hard roe in them, so that in some countries the name is often used to denote sterility. The flesh is not comparable to that of the carp.