THE FLAT FISH OR WINTER FLOUNDER: HABITS. 183 



unless it be the sculpins. There is very little evidence of a tendency to move to and fioin the 

 shore with a change of season. Winter and summer, they appear to lie equally abundant from 

 New York to the Bay of Ghaleur, where, in the tide-way of Miramiehi River, they arc caught in 

 winter through holes in the ice. ,In Labrador they are described as exceedingly abundant in 

 summer, but nothing is known of their winter habits. Professor Baird found them scarce in 

 Southern New Jersey in summer, but learned that they were very abundant in the bays in winter. 

 Small quantities are brought to Washington in winter from the mouth of the Chesapeake. 



The spawning season occurs early in spring, in February and March on the Connecticut coast, 

 and is thought to be closed by the first part of April. Young fish of half an inch in length are 

 found in July in the deeper parts of the bays and sounds, and in August and September, having 

 attained the length of one and one-half to five inches, occur in great abundance in the coves and 

 along the sandy shores of the Southern New England coast, in very shallow water. Their growth 

 is probably rapid, though it would seem most likely that the five-inch specimens, just referred to, 

 were eighteen months rather than six months old. The largest that have been discovered were 

 fifteen inches long, and would weigh from one to one and a half pounds. 



The flesh of the Flat Fish is solid, white, and of excellent flavor, and deserves a more general 

 popularity than it has yet attained. It is, and has been for the last century, largely consumed in 

 New York in winter. Schoepf, writing in 1776, mentions it as occurring in the market in spring ; 

 later, writing in 1818, he states that small numbers were found in the stalls in January and 

 February, taken with spears while searching for eels. These were not very inviting, owing to 

 their mangled appearance and frozen state, but, with the disappearance of ice and the approach of 

 spring, their numbers increased, and in March the stalls were well filled with them, cheap and fresh 

 and good. They were only used as pan-fish. Gill wrote, in 1856: "This is the most common species 

 of flounder that is brought to the city markets in the winter and spring months; it is seldom sold 

 at a higher price than eight to ten cents per pound. Flounders are chiefly sold by the weight; 

 occasionally they are strung through the branchial apertures on twigs and nominally sold by the 

 bunch." 



The Smooth Flounder, or Christmas Flounder, Pleuronectes glaber, is very similar in habits and 

 appearance to the Flat Fish, and is still closer to the Flounder of Europe, being a member of the 

 same genus. It may be distinguished from the former by its smooth skin, which has given to the 

 species, in some localities, the name "Eel-back." Its distribution is extremely limited, it having 

 been recorded as only found in Salem, Massachusetts, Portland and Belfast, Maine, or within the 

 limits of two degrees of latitude. Its range may in the future be extended farther to the north, but 

 it is certain that at present none occur south of Salem. In Casco Bay they are very abundant in 

 summer, and the Fish Commission secured great quantities of them in water three or four fathoms 

 deep in Bluelight Cove. They have never elsewhere been observed, except in winter, about Christ 

 mas time, when they come into the harbors to spawn. At Salem they are, on this account, called the 

 Christmas Fish. Considerable quantities are caught every year by spearing them upon the sand. 

 At this place they are also called "Fool Fish," because, in their anxiety for food, they will bite at 

 any kind of bait, even at a rag. The spawning season is short, and they soon retire into deeper 

 water. At Po> tlaud, and in the vicinity, considerable numbers are taken iu the winter fishery in 

 company with the Flat Fish, and with them are sent to New York and neighboring markets In 

 one instance a quantity was offered for sale in the markets of Washington. The spawning season 

 on the coast of Maine is slightly earlier than that of Massachusetts, beginning as early as the 

 middle of December, while iu Penobscot Bay they arc taken at the very beginning of the month, full 

 of spawn. In Penobscot Bay they aic taken in traps, or "fliers.'' as the fishermen call them, shaped 



