THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



459 



149. Flatfish ; Winter Flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus Walbaum). 



Pleuronectes planus MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 387, 1815, New York. 



Platessa plana DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fish., 295, pi. 48, fig. 154, 1842; STOKER, Hist. Fish. 

 Mass., 195, pi. XXX, fig. 2, T86y. 



Platessa pnsilla DEKAY, op. cit. 296, pi. 47, fig. 153, 1842, New York. 



Pseudopleuronectes americanus GOODE, Fish & Fish. Ind. U. S., I, 182, pi. 44, 1884; BEAN, 

 igth Kept. Comm. Fish. N. Y., 245, pi. I, fig. i, 1890; Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 IX, 373, 1897; H. M. SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C., 1897, 108, 1898; JORDAN & EVER- 

 MANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., Ill, 2647, 1898; IV, pi. CCCLXXIX, fig. 933, 1900; 

 BEAN, 520! Ann. Rept. N. Y. State Mus., no, 1900; SHERWOOD & EDWARDS, Bull. 

 U. S. F. C., 1901, 31, 1901. 





FLATFISH. 



Dark rusty brown, spotted or nearly plain ; young olive brown, more or less 

 spotted and blotched with reddish. 



The Common Flatfish is equally well known as Flounder or Winter Flounder. 

 It ranges from the Chesapeake Bay to Labrador and appears to be alike abundant in 

 both limits of its distribution. The Flatfish was found in Blue Point Cove, at Blue 

 Point Life-saving Station, and on Fire Island Beach. It was moderately common in 

 all of these localities. The species is a permanent resident of Great South Bay, but 

 undergoes a partial hibernation in the mud in winter, and the adults in summer 

 migrate into deeper and cooler water. A few individuals were observed by me in a 

 fish pound at Islip, October I, 1890. 



Dr. Mitchill describes two color varieties of the Flatfish. One of these had a 

 yellow margin on the lower side, surrounding the white of that side. This border 

 was three-fourths of an inch wide and in striking contrast with the pearl of the con- 



