THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



457 



The Southern Flounder is very closely related to the Fluke or Summer Flounder. 

 It is, however, always darker in color and almost uniform, while the Fluke is usually 

 profusely spotted. The character by which it is best distinguished from the Fluke 

 is the number of gill rakers. The Southern Flounder has only 12, of which 10 are 

 below the angle of the first arch, \vhile the Summer Flounder has from 20 to 24, of 

 which from 15 to 18 are below the angle of the first arch. 



147- Four-spotted Flounder (Paralichthys oblongus Mitchill). 



Pleuronectes oblongus MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 391, 1815. 

 Platessa quadrocellata STORER, Hist. Fish. Mass., 203, pi. XXXI, fig. 3, 1867. 

 Puralichthys oblongus JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., Ill, 2632, 1898, 

 IV, pi. CCCLXXIV, fig. 924, 1900. 



'j^^^VV^. 



FOUR-SPOTTED FLOUNDER. 



Grayish, thickly mottled with darker and somewhat translucent ; four large, hori- 

 zontal oblong, black ocelli, each surrounded by a pinkish area, one just behind mid- 

 dle of body below the dorsal, one opposite this above anal ; two similar smaller 

 spots below last rays of dorsal and above last of anal. Atlantic coast, northward ; 

 not abundant. 



The Four-spotted Flounder inhabits the coast of New England and New York. 

 It is very common on the coast of New York and the neighboring islands. Mitchill 

 described the fish in 1815. It grows to the length of about 14 inches. Its common 

 name relates to the four large horizontal, oblong black ocelli. At Woods Hole, 

 Mass., according to Dr. Smith, it is common in May and June, scarce at other times. 

 It is most abundant about June, during the run of Scup. 



Young fish are rarely observed, but in the fall of 1885 and 1886 large numbers 

 two or three inches long were seen. The average length of adults there is 12 



