Dab

Limanda limanda · Flatfish

Also called dabs

Dab — Photo: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What fish is this?Identify a fish from a photo

A small right-eyed flatfish of sandy ground, abundant in the North Sea and common around the UK, often caught from beaches.^[1]

How to recognise it

Sandy brown with faint orange spots and dark flecks, paler than a plaice.^[1]
The lateral line curves sharply over the pectoral fin.^[2]
Skin is rough on the eyed side; the long rough dab is a different species.^[1]

When and where

Found over: sand, mud, shingle, estuary, gullies^[1]
Baits: ragworm, lugworm, mackerel, mussel, squid strip^[1]
Tide: They tend to move further out as the tide ebbs, so a longer cast can help.^[1]
Light: They feed by day and by night and often move into very shallow water in the dark.^[1]

Sources

These notes are a draft: we gathered them from the sources above and are still checking them. We don't work out best times for this fish yet. The size rules come from the same checked byelaws as every other fish.

Fish guide

Dab