Limanda limanda, a flatfish of the NE Atlantic, with a range from the White Sea down to France. It has a brown back, often freckled, and may reach a length of almost 40 cm (16″), although commonly little more than half of that. A good fish, with a pleasing flavour, well suited to being fried either whole or in fillets, depending on size; but less esteemed in Britain than in continental Europe. In Jutland dabs are salted and dried and sold under a name which means ‘dried Jutlanders’.
In other parts of the world, where English-speaking colonists arrived and found species of fish which they thought similar to the dab which they had known in Britain, the name is often used for other members of the family Pleuronectidae. Thus Hippoglossoides platessoides is properly called the American plaice, but is also known as sand-dab or long rough dab. (This particular fish is the very embodiment of confusion in nomenclature since it has also been called a flounder and a sole, while its scientific name suggests an association with the halibut!)
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
