turbot Psetta maxima, a flatfish with an extensive range: from the Black Sea through the Mediterranean and up the European Atlantic coasts as far as the Arctic Circle. It may reach a length of 1 m (just over 3'), but half this is a normal adult size. The colour of the back is generally greyish or sandy brown, and it is noticeable that most scales develop into tiny bony tubercles. In the Black Sea region, these tubercles become much more prominent, indeed larger than the fish’s eyes, which accounts for the vernacular names there (meaning ‘nail-head’, for example), and has also caused scientists to distinguish the Black Sea turbots as a subspecies, P. m. maeotica.
