FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



277 



hue than those caught inshore. But this rule 

 does not always hold (see p. 277). 



The blind side is white, more or less translucent 

 toward the edge, where it is often faintly tinged 

 with bluish, and the lower side of the caudal 

 peduncle is yellowish on some specimens, but is 

 pure white on others. The long fins usually are 

 tinged with pinkish, reddish, or are yellowish on 

 the eyed side; the ventrals and pectorals of the 

 eyed side are of the general ground tone, but their 

 mates on the blind side are pure white. Small 

 fish average paler and more blotched or mottled 

 than large ones. 



Various color abnormalities have been recorded 

 (fish, for example, that are partially white on the 

 eyed as well as on the blind side, or with the blind 

 side yellow-edged) and it is not uncommon to see 

 specimens with dark blotches on the blind side. 

 In fact, one-third of the fish caught near Provi- 

 dence, R. I., during the winter of 1897-98 were 

 these "black bellies," as fishermen call them, but 

 the commissioners of fisheries of that State esti- 

 mated them as forming only 4 percent of the 

 catch in 1900. And none (or at most only an 

 occasional fish) has been seen since. In 1898, 

 some fry that had been hatched artificially from 

 eggs of black-bellied flounders were released in 

 Waquoit Bay, southern Massachusetts, where 

 this race had been unknown previously, and 

 several "black bellies" 7 to 8 inches long (hence 

 probably two years old) were taken there in 1900, 

 probably the offspring of this planted stock. 41 



Winter flounders change color to some ex- 

 tent to suit their surroundings, usually being very 

 dark on mud, and pale on bright sand bottoms. 

 But field experience suggests that they have less 

 control over shade and pattern than the summer 

 flounder has. 



Size. — The largest winter flounder on record 

 caught inshore was one 22% inches long mentioned 

 by Scattergood ; 42 Nichols and Breder 43 report one 

 20 inches long, weighing 5 pounds ; and Welsh saw 

 three of about 19^ inches, weighing 3%, 3%, and 

 4 pounds, respectively, that were caught near 

 Boon Island in April 1913. But fish longer than 

 18 inches or heavier than 3 pounds are unusual 

 inshore, the general run of adults caught there 

 being from 12 to 15 inches in length and 1% to 2 



'■ Bull.. U. S. Fish Comm., vol. 19, 1901, pp. 305-306. 



« Copeia 1952, p. 206. 



« Zoologies, New York Zool. Soc, vol. 9, 1927, p. ISO. 



pounds in weight. Flounders grow larger on 

 Georges Bank, where many of 4-6 pounds are 

 taken, and where they often are caught up to 7-8 

 pounds ; we have handled one Georges Bank fish 

 of 25 inches, weighing 8 pounds. 



Remarks. — The winter flounder shows some 

 tendency to break up into local races in the number 

 of its fin rays, 44 in the size to which they grow, and 

 perhaps in other characteristics. 



The most interesting of these races, from the 

 fisheries standpoint, is the population on Georges 

 Bank, for the flounders tend to grow larger there 

 than they do anywhere inshore. This fact was 

 first brought to scientific attention in 1912, when 

 some of these large flounders from Georges were 

 received by the Bureau of Fisheries, to be made 

 the basis of a new species, Pseudopleuronectus 

 dignabUis, by Kendall. 45 Since that time this 

 Georges Bank flounder has been accepted pro- 

 visionally as a separate species, supposedly charac- 

 terized by rather more numerous fin rays, by 

 reddish color, and by a caudal peduncle yellow on 

 the under side, as well as by large size. But our 

 own comparison of specimens of the winter 

 flounder group of various sizes, from Georges 

 Bank, with others from the No Mans Land 

 ground, from Nantucket Shoals, and from many 

 localities, inshore, from Labrador to New York, 

 leads us to conclude that it is simply a large, more 

 rusty-brownish, local race of the winter flounder, 

 for we find no definite regional discontinuity in 

 the number of fin rays or of gill rakers, in the 

 teeth, or in color (p. 277). The names "black- 

 back" and "lemon sole," as used by fishermen, 

 have no bearing on the case, for their choice of the 

 one or of the other is based solely on the size of 

 the fish in question (p. 282 ). 46 



Habits. — Tide mark, high or low according to 

 the stage of the tide, is the upper limit for this 

 flounder. It runs up into brackish water in river 

 mouths, and we have even caught them in the 

 Susquehanna River, tributary to Chesapeake Bay, 

 where the water was fresh enough to drink. 47 



Its lower limit cannot be stated definitely. It 

 is plentiful certainly at 10 to 20 fathoms in Cape 



« See Bumpus (American Naturalist, vol. 32, 1898, pp. 407-412) and espe- 

 cially Perlmutter (Bull. Bingham Oceanographic Coll., vol. 11, Art. 2, 1947, 

 pp. IS- 23) in this connection. 



« Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 30, 1912, p. 391. pi. 57. 



* 8 Perlmutter has already emphasized this point in his detailed study of 

 the blackback (Bull. Bingham Oceanogr. Coll., vol. 11, Art. 2, 1947, p. 18). 



<> HUdebrand and Schroeder, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 43, Pt. 1, 1928, 

 p. 170. 



