Lemon Sole

Family Pleuronectidae

• Spanish: Mendo limón
• French: Sole limande
• Dutch: Tongschar
• German: Rotzunge
• Swedish: Bergtunga, Bergskädda
• Norwegian: Lomre
• Danish: Rødtunge
• Icelandic:ðykkvalúra

REMARKS Maximum length 65 cm. The colour is ‘generally dull brown, but with varied and irregular rounded markings of mahogany, orange, yellow and even green blended into the background colour’ (Wheeler). The skin is slimy and smooth. Note the small head and mouth.

The lemon sole (which is not, strictly speaking, a sole, but never mind) is an important food fish which is widespread on the coastal banks of Europe from Iceland and Norway to France. It is mainly exploited by British and French fishermen, using trawls or seine nets. It is not, of course, the same fish as the American winter flounder, although the latter may also be called lemon sole.