FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



483 



fin (76 to 96 rays) originates in front of the middle of the left eve mid the anal (64 

 to 77 rays) abreast of the pectoral and close behind the gill opening. These long fins 

 taper both toward the head and toward the tail, while there is a short, sharp, spine 

 (the prolongation of the post abdominal bone) pointing forward close in front of 

 the anal tin. The pectoral fin on the eyed side usually (not always) has one or two 

 more rays and is longer and more rounded than its fellow on the blind side, but the 

 two ventral fins, which are close in front of the anal though entirely distinct from it, 

 are alike in size, shape, and location. The margin of the caudal fin is always convex, 

 either rounded or with its middle rays so much the longest as to form a blunt angle. 

 The lateral line is more clearly evident in the plaice than in most of our flatfishes 

 and practically straight from end to end. 



Color. — Plaice run more uniform in color than most of our smaller flatfish, rang- 

 ing from reddish to grayish brown, dark or pale, above and pure or bluish white 

 below. Small fish usually show 3 to 5 dark spots along each edge of the body; 

 large ones do so occasionally, though they are usually plain colored. 



Fig. 243.— American plaice (Hippoglossoides platcssoidct) 



Size. — The maximum length is about 2 feet and they weigh up to 7 pounds. 

 According to Huntsman (1918), Bay of Fundy and Nova Scotian fish average 

 about half a pound at 12 inches, 1 > 4 ' pounds at 16 inches, \% pounds at 18 inches, 

 2% pounds at 20 inches, 4 pounds at 22 inches, and 6 pounds at 24 inches, while 

 Massachusetts Bay fish are about as heavy at corresponding lengths. Adults 

 caught off Cape Ann and measured by Welsh ran from about 12 to 24 inches in 

 length, averaging 14 or 15. They average slightly larger in the colder water of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Plaice tend to differentiate into local races in different seas. Thus the fin rays 

 are more numerous, on the average, in fish from high latitudes than in those from 

 low latitudes, while the body is relatively wider in fish caught off Greenland and 

 America than in Scandinavian or North Sea specimens. But these characters vary 

 so widely even in limited areas that the Arctic-American and European "species" 

 (platessoides and Kmandoides) have been united by common consent long since, and 

 we doubt whether the corresponding "varieties" still recognized by several recent 



