FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



259 



75 anal). Its mouth, furthermore, is larger, its 

 eyes smaller relatively and its jaw teeth stronger, 

 though the differences in these respects are not 

 great enough to serve as useful field marks. It 

 is yellowish or grayish brown, paler below than 

 above but not white. 



Size. — This is one of the largest of the North 

 Atlantic flatfishes, next to the halibut, growing to 

 a length of about 40 inches and to a weight of 20 

 to 25 pounds. But fish caught about the Grand 

 Banks weigh only from about 5 to 10 pounds. 



General range and occurrence in the Gulf of 

 Maine. — This is a fish of the Arctic and subarctic 

 Atlantic. It is taken from northern Norway and 

 northern Iceland to the Faroe ridge, and to south- 

 west of Iceland 72 as a stray. It supports a fishery 

 off west Greenland that is important for the 

 Eskimos. 73 In the west considerable numbers are 

 taken off the south coast of Newfoundland, 74 also 

 on the Grand Banks, hence it is to be expected 

 along outer Labrador, though it has not been re- 

 ported thence as yet. Odd specimens are to be 

 expected here and there in the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence too, for it has been taken near the Biological 

 Station at Trois Pistoles. 75 



" Norman (Ann. Mag. N'at. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 13, p. 539) reports a single 

 specimen taken southwest of Iceland. 



" See Jensen (Meddel. Dansk. Komm. Havundersdgelser, Ser. Fiskerl, 

 vol. 7, No. 7, 1927) for a general account of the Greenland halibut off west 

 Greenland. 



'< According to Goode (Fish. Ind. U.S., Sect. 1, 1884, p. 198) long liners have 

 reported it as "very abundant" in and of! Fortune Bay, in 60 to 300 fathoms. 



" Vladykov and Tremblay, Natural. Canad., vol. 62 (Scr. 3, vol. 6), 1935 

 p. 82. 



It is described as "not uncommon" off Canso, 

 Nova Scotia, 76 and as occasionally brought in from 

 the more northerly of the Nova Scotian fishing 

 banks long ago. 77 



Our only reason for mentioning it here is Goode 

 and Bean's 78 statement that "fishermen take them 

 frequently in the gully between La Have and 

 Georges Bank at depths greater than 200 fathoms." 

 This has been corroborated by the capture of 16 

 specimens, at 300 to 530 fathoms, along the slope 

 of La Have Bank to the southwestern slope of 

 Georges Bank by the Cap'n Bill II, in July 1952. 

 It has no real place in the Gulf of Maine fish fauna. 



American dab Hippoglossoides platessoides (Fab- 

 ricius) 1780 79 



Canadian plaice; Long rough dab 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2614. 



Description. — The most obvious distinctive char- 

 acters of the American dab are that it is right- 

 handed and large-mouthed like the halibut, but 

 with a rounded tail instead of concave, and with 

 the lateral line nearly straight instead of arched; 

 it is the only Gulf of Maine flounder in which 

 these characters are combined. Our only other 

 large-mouthed flat-fishes with rounded tails (the 



» Cornish, Contrib. Canadian Biol. (1902-1905) 1907, p. 90. 



" Jones, Proc. Trans. Nova Scotia Inst., Sci., vol. 5, Pt. 1, 1879, p. 92. 



" Amer. Jour. Sci. Arts, Scr. 3, vol. 17, 1879, p. 40. 



n Various other common names are applied to this fish In different seas. It 

 is usually termed "Long rough dab" In England and is so listed in British 

 fishery statistics. It is not the "plaice," or the "dab" ol Europe. 



Figure 128. — Canadian plaice, or Dab {Hippoglossoides plattessoides) , La Have Bank. From Goode. 



Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



