300 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



The Oblong Flounder is common along our sandy shores, and is procured abundantly in the 

 months of September and October. It is excellent eating, and usually sells at from six to 

 eight cents per pound. Like its congeners, it is very tenacious of life, and can be preserved 

 in good condition for a long period. 



THE LONG-TOOTHED FLOUNDER. 



Platessa ocellaris. 

 PLATE XLVII. FIG. 152. —(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Characteristics. Dorsal fin with more than ninety rays. Chin prominent. Teeth long. 

 Upper surface with ocellated and other spots. Tail rounded. Length 

 twelve to eighteen inches. 



Description. Body oblong. Length of the head to the total length as one to five. Depth 

 of the body alone to its length as one to two. Scales adherent, rounded ; their concealed 

 surfaces with radiating striae, and extending over the opercles. The lateral line with a short 

 and rapid curve over the pectorals, and thence straight. Eyes moderate, and separated by a 

 bony ridge ; the inferior smallest. Nostrils double, between and somewhat in advance of the 

 eyes, distant ; the anterior smallest. Mouth large, and when closed, the labials extending to 

 the posterior margin of the orbits. Preopercle with a rounded angle. Branchial membrane 

 united beneath as in the preceding. Teeth in the lower jaw long, distant, acute, and about 

 twenty-four in number. In the upper jaw, the four in front on each side long ; those on the 

 sides small, numerous and subequal. 



The dorsal fin commences anterior to the eyes ; the first twenty-five or twenty-eight with 

 free tips, the rays gradually increasing to the sixtieth ray ; from the sixty-fifth, they decrease 

 in height to the tail, ending opposite the termination of the anal. Pectorals pointed, arising 

 under the twenty-third dorsal ray. Ventrals small, anterior to the pectorals ; the second ray 

 longest. Vent on the colored side, rather anterior to the base of the pectorals, and midway 

 between the ventral and anal. Anal similar in shape to the dorsal ; the longest rays are about 

 the fifty-sixth. Caudal rounded. 



Color. Olive brown, with from six to ten black spots bordered with white ; a few of them 

 form an irregular series along the base of the dorsal fin ; the others are irregularly distributed 

 about the body, above and below the lateral line. Intermingled with these, are numerous 

 obscure pale spots over the surface. Pupils black ; irides golden. Pectoral and ventral of 

 the colored side frequently barred with black. 



Length, 12" - 24' 0. Breadth, 4-0-6-0. 

 Fin rays, D. 95 ; P. 12 ; V. 6 ; A. 72 ; C. 16 |. 



This is a savory fish, which appears on our coast in the summer months. I have hitherto 

 confounded it with the preceding ; but on a reexamination, I am satisfied that it is very dis- 



