Home › Volumes › Fishes › The Flounders
Arrow-toothed Halibut — Part 3
Images coming soon.
aaa. Gillrakers few, shortish and wide-set, about 2 or 3+8 to 10 in number.
b. Body ovate, more or less compressed and opaque.
c. Dorsal rays numerous, 85 to 93; A. 65 to 73.....lethostigmus
cc. Dorsal rays in moderate numbers, 70 to 80; A. 54 to 61; albiguttus
bb. Body oblong, strongly compressed, semitranslucent; oblongus
The Monterey or bastard halibut, P. californicus, reaches a length of 3 feet and a weight of 50 or 60 pounds and is common on the California coast from Tomales Bay to Cerros Island. It is one of the most common food-fishes of that coast where it takes the place occupied by the summer flounder on the Atlantic side. It lives in shallow water, the young abounding near shore. It does not rank high as a food-fish, the flesh of the large ones being tough and coarse, while the young are inferior to most of the so-called Pacific soles.
The summer flounder or plaice, P. dentatus, is, next to the halibut, the most important of all the flatfishes on our Atlantic Coast. It is abundant from Cape Cod to the Carolinas. It reaches a length of nearly 3 feet and a weight of about 15 pounds. It has by most writers been confounded with the southern flounder from which it is most easily distinguished by its more numerous gillrakers and mottled colouration. They are usually found in a depth of 2 to 20 fathoms. In winter they move into deeper water. The largest example of which we have seen a record weighed 26 pounds.
The most extensive fisheries for this fish are on the New England Coast. Great numbers are sometimes caught in seines along shore, though favourite fishing-grounds are on sandy bottom, in 15 to 20 fathoms about Block Island, Marthas Vineyard, and the eastern end of Long Island.
The colour of this flounder in life is a light olive-brown, with numerous small white spots on body and vertical fins; sometimes a series of large white spots along bases of dorsal and anal fins; about 14 ocellated dark spots on side.
The southern flounder, P. lethostigmus, is close to the summer flounder with which it has often been confounded. It is the common large species usually abundant from Charleston southward and along the entire Gulf Coast. We have collected it in Indian River and at Tampa, and Mr. Silas Stearns found it abundant in shoal water on the west coast of Florida in summer.
The Gulf flounder, P. albiguttus, is rather common on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. It resembles the southern flounder in having few gillrakers, and the summer flounder in the mottled colouration, while from each it is distinguished by its fewer dorsal and anal rays. It attains a length of about 2 feet.
The four-spotted flounder, P. oblongus, is rather common on the coast of Cape Cod and neighbouring islands. It is a good food-fish and may be known by the 4 large, horizontal oblong black ocelli, each surrounded by a pinkish border, on side of body.
The genus Limanda contains one species, the Alaska dab, L. aspera, which is of some food-value.
This is a species of the northern Pacific and Bering Sea and is found on both coasts. On our coast it is generally common as far south as Vancouver Island. In Bristol Bay it is particularly abundant and is regarded as being an excellent food-fish.
There are 3 other species of Limanda but none of them of any value commercially except the rusty dab, L. ferruginea. This small flounder is found on our Atlantic Coast from New York to Labrador and is not uncommon northward. Though small, it is a good food-fish.
The genus Pseudopleuronectes contains one very important species. This is the winter flounder or common flatfish, P. americanus.
The winter flounder is one of the most abundant species on our Atlantic Coast, ranging south to the Carolinas and north to Labrador. It is especially abundant in southern New England and New York. It is not a large species, as it rarely exceeds 20 inches in length, and a weight of 5 pounds. Examples more than 12 or 15 inches long are not common.
The winter flounder is very prolific, the number of eggs produced by a large fish being more than a million. The spawning season on our coast is from February to April, and by August the young fish are 1 to 2 inches in length.
The flounder fishery is carried on chiefly during the winter and spring months, large quantities being taken. As a food-fish the winter flounder holds a very high rank; the flesh is white, firm, and of excellent flavour. Next to the halibut it is the most important flatfish of our Atlantic Coast. This species has been more extensively propagated than any other member of the family. The United States Fish Commission obtains the eggs at Woods Hole where its propagation fills in the time between the taking of the cod on the one hand and the lobster on the other. The number of fry hatched in 1900, at Woods Hole, exceeded 87,000,000, which were planted at various points along the New England coast.