FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



285 



Island, 79 also from Trois Pistoles; 80 and it has been 

 classed by Huntsman 81 as characteristic of the 

 estuarial transition from fresh to salt waters in 

 the southern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 generally. We find no record of it on the outer 

 coast of Nova Scotia between Cape Breton and 

 Cape Sable; but we suspect that it has been over- 

 looked there, for it is widespread in the Gulf of 

 Maine to Massachusetts Bay, as detailed below, 

 and has been reported as a stray as far south as 

 Providence, R. I. 



Its range probably is continuous in the north 

 with that of its polar relative (L. glacialis) of the 

 Arctic coasts of North America and Siberia. In- 

 deed, it is a question whether any valid distinction 

 can be drawn between the two species. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The smooth 

 flounder is to be found in estuaries, river mouths 

 and harbors, all along the shores of the Gulf, from 

 the Bay of Fundy to the northern side of Massa- 

 chusetts Bay. Localities whence it has been re- 

 corded in print, or has been definitely reported 

 otherwise, are Annapolis basin, Minas Channel 

 and St. Mary Bay; Grand Manan; Bucksport at 

 the mouth of the Penobscot River; Belfast in 

 Penobscot Bay; Casco Bay; Portland; Salem 

 Harbor; and Boston Harbor. Apparently the 

 latter is the southern limit to its regular occur- 

 ence for while there is a specimen in the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology, from Provincetown at 

 the tip of Cape Cod, it seems to be unknown in 

 Cape Cod Bay, along the outer shore of Cape 

 Cod, or in the Woods Hole region, though a stray 

 individual has been caught at Providence, R. I. 82 



This flatfish (often confounded with the winter 

 flounder) has been found so often in various mar- 

 kets among the winter flounders as to suggest that 

 it is more plentiful along the coasts of northern 

 New England, than is realized, general!)'. 



In Casco Bay and in estuaries of the Bay of 

 Fundy such as the mouths of the St. CroLx and 

 Annapolis Rivers it is abundant in summer, which 

 no doubt applies equally to the intervening coast 

 line. But it is said to run up into harbors in 

 Massachusetts Bay in autumn and winter only; 83 



'» Cornish, Contrib. Canadian Biol. (1906-1910) 1912, p. 81. 



«° Vladykov and Tremblay, Nat. Canad., vol. 62 (Ser. 3, vol. 6), 1935. 

 p. 82; (many specimens reported). 



»' Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, Ser. 3, vol. 12, Sect. 4, 1918, p. 63. 



•' This specimen, formerly in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, is no 

 longer to be found. 



8 * Our experience corroborates this to the extent that we have never seen 

 il there in summer. 



nor would such a local difference be astonishing in 

 the case of a cold-water fish, which might well be 

 driven out into slightly deeper water by summer 

 heat in the southern and western parts of the 

 Gulf, but not in the northern and eastern parts. 

 Commercial importance. — This is an excellent 

 table fish for its size, sweet-meated and thick- 

 bodied like the winter flounder. But it is neither 

 large enough, plentiful, nor widely enough dis- 

 tributed in the open Gulf to be of any commercial 

 importance. 



Witch flounder Glyptocephalus cynoglossus (Lin- 

 naeus) 1758 



Gray sole; Craig fluke; Pole flounder 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2657. 



Description. — The witch or "gray sole" as it is 

 now named in the United States fishery statistics, 

 is right-handed (viscera on the right hand as the 

 fish lies) and small-mouthed like the winter 

 flounder, the smooth flounder and the yellow tail. 

 But there is little danger of confusing it with any 

 of these for its fin rays are much more numerous, 

 its body narrower relatively, its head much smaller, 

 and the open mucous pits on the blind side of its 

 head large and conspicuous. It is two and one- 

 half to three times as long as it is broad (deep, in 

 reality), elliptical in outline, very thin but with 

 its head occupying only about one-fifth of the 

 total body length, and it has a very small mouth. 

 The dorsal (left-hand) profile of its head is convex. 

 It has 100 to 115 dorsal fin rays and 87 to 100 anal 

 rays, and the anal fin is preceded by a short, sharp 

 spine pointing forward, which is a prolongation of 

 the post-abdominal bone. The two long fins are 

 of about uniform width throughout most of their 

 lengths, except that they narrow gradually toward 

 head and tail. The pectoral fins and the ventral 

 fins are alike on the two sides, or nearly so, while 

 the caudal fin is much smaller, relatively, than that 

 of the yellowtail, of the winter flounder, or of the 

 smooth flounder, though similarly rounded in rear 

 outline. 



The lateral line is straight, as a rule, but it is 

 somewhat arched abreast the pectoral fin in some 

 specimens. The teeth are small, incisorlike, and 

 in a single series. There are about 12 open mucous 

 pits or depressions on the blind side of the head, 

 and less obvious ones on the eyed side also. The 

 whole body and head (except for the tip of the 



