How to tell the difference between turbot and brill?

Turbot or brill? © Fabien Tynilla

How do you tell turbot from brill? I'm going to tell you about a confusion I had that earned me quite a few questioning or critical comments. These posts followed a video in which I caught some beautiful flatfish, but confused two fish that are well known to fishing enthusiasts: turbot and brill. This little story has allowed me to deepen my knowledge, which I'll share with you in the hope that it will be useful to you too!

The story of my confusion

You know how much I love sharing my fishing adventures and discoveries on my "Tynilla Fishing" Youtube videos! During a beautiful autumn fishing session at sea and under more than capricious weather conditions, I had shared a video on Youtube initially entitled: "Sea bass, turbot and storm at sea". But after a few checks, I had to rename it: "Sea bass, turbot and storm at sea". Why the change?

As fate would have it, a few days later I was at the fishmonger's to buy some cockles (essential if you want to catch sea bream), when I noticed a turbot and a brill on the stall. This tipped me off: had I really caught a turbot? Looking at my video more closely, I also discovered many comments asking the same question!

To find out for sure, I sent a photo to an old sea dog who specializes in catching this carnivorous flatfish. He had asked me for the size of the fish and was surprised by the size-to-weight ratio of my fish (53 cm for 1.9 kg). Verdict: it was in fact a brill. Here's everything you need to know to avoid confusion.

Une jolie barbue
A pretty bearded lady

The differences between turbot and brill

To prevent this from happening to you, here's a simple guide based on my research and observations. You'll see that every distinguishing feature is easy to spot in my photos:

Turbot

  • Shape: round to oval.
  • Color: clear with small brownish to black spots. Note that color can vary depending on the seabed.
  • Skin: rough, which is the easiest distinguishing feature to spot. These protuberances are clearly visible in the turbot photo.
  • Size and weight: turbot can reach impressive dimensions: up to 1 meter and 25 kg! Unfortunately, this type of catch is becoming increasingly rare due to overfishing. The finest specimens caught today are around 50 cm.
  • Lower surface: white.

The brill (often called "the brill")

  • Shape and color: very similar to turbot, but darker. The spots are both dark and light.
  • Texture: It has scales that are clearly perceptible to the touch, unlike turbot, which appears really smooth.
  • Size and weight: more modest, generally reaching 75 cm for a maximum of around ten kilos.
Pêcher les poissons plats avec un montage bait slider
Fishing for flatfish with a bait slider rig

Differences, but also commonalities

  • Size to be respected: the limit set by the 2013 regulations is 30 cm. But frankly, it's unethical to harvest a fish under 40 cm. A turbot of this size is around 3 years old, and a brill is 5, so they haven't had much time to reproduce.
  • Behavior: these are hunting fish, capable of climbing to mid-height to stalk mackerel or horse mackerel. I caught a magnificent brill in 35 metres of water. It followed the lure from the bottom and caught it at around 15 metres.
  • Fishing technique: they're very receptive to live bait, but I love fishing them with soft lures. I made a video on the subject not long ago.

Now you won't be confused, as I was, between these two closely related but different fish. What they have in common is that they're both delicious to eat and exciting to catch.

On your rods, get set... Get fishing!

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