THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 455 



145. Summer Flounder (ParaliclitJiys dentatus Linnaeus). 

 Pleuronectes dentatiis MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 390, 1815. 



A 



Pleuronectes nulanogasttr MITCHILL, op. cit. 390, 1815, New York. 



Platessa ocellaris DF.KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fish., 300, pi. 47, fig. 152, 1842. 



Paralichthys dentatus GOODE, Fish & Fish. Ind. U. S., I, 178, 1884 (part); BEAN, i9th 

 Kept. Comm. Fish. N. Y., 246, pi. II, fig. 2, 1890; Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IX, 

 372, 1897; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., Ill, 2629, 1898; IV, 

 pi. CCCLXXIII, fig. 922, 1900; BEAN, 520! Ann. Kept. N. Y. State Mus., no, 1900. 



Blackish olive, mottled and blotched with darker ; in life light brown ; adults 

 with numerous small white spots on body and vertical fins; sometimes a series of 

 larger white sports along bases of dorsal and anal ; about 14 ocellated dark spots on 

 sides, these sometimes inconspicuous, but always present ; a series of four or five 

 along dorsal base, and three or four along anal base, those of the two series opposite, 

 and forming pairs; two pairs of smaller, less distinct spots midway between these 

 basal series and lateral line anteriorly, with a small one on lateral line in the center 

 between them ; a large distinct spot on lateral line behind middle of straight por- 

 tion ; fins without the round dark blotches. 



Is styled Flounder, or Summer Flounder, Turbot Flounder, Toothed Flatfish, 

 Fluke, and, in Great South Bay, it shares the name Flatfish with the Pseudopleuro- 

 nectes amcricanus. Brail and Puckermouth are names applied to it in Rhode Island. 

 The name Fluke is the one most frequently used on Long Island. 



The Fluke is a very abundant fish and is found on the eastern coast from about 

 Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. Centers of abundance are found on the Connecti- 

 cut coast and on Long Island. 



It is a summer visitor in Gravesend Bay, arriving in May or June and leaving 

 when cold weather begins. It frequents the sandy flats for the purpose of feeding 

 on little fishes, which it destroys in large numbers. A Fluke will often be found 

 with eight or 10 little Blackfish in its stomach, and young Mackerel suffer greatly 

 from its depredations. In Great South Bay this fish was found at Blue Point Cove 

 and at Fire Island late in September, and was caught in traps at Islip, October I, 

 1890. 



Small Fluke were collected in Mecox Bay, Blue Point Cove and at Islip in Aug- 

 ust, 1898. Adults were obtained at Fire Island Inlet September 16 of that year, 

 when they were abundant. In 1901 the fish were taken at Fire Island Inlet, Blue 

 Point, and Smith's Point. August I they were feeding on small Menhaden. The 

 next day they were seen in Wigo Inlet, and again chasing young Menhaden. On 



