FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 481 



whether the halibut succeeds in reproducing its kind to any extent west of Cape 

 Sablo. There is a strong contrast in this respect between the Gulf of Maine and the 

 waters around Iceland, where Jespersen found an abundance of little fish of 8 to 10 

 inches. 



Large halibut are very prolific, the ovaries of a fish of about 200 pounds having 

 been estimated to contain 2,182,773 eggs. Eggs spawned naturally have never 

 been seen, but presumably they are not buoyant, and if buoyant they are among the 

 largest of floating fish eggs, for they are 3.1 to 3.S mm. in diameter as taken from the 

 ripe ovary, with no oil globule. 



The smallest halibut 53 yet seen was one of 13.5 mm., in which the vertical fin 

 rays were first appearing. These are developed and the ventral fins are visible at 

 about 22 mm. (fig. 240), by which time the left eye has moved upward until its 

 margin is just visible above the contour of the head, forecasting the fact that the 

 fish is destined to be right-handed. Fish of this size also show the large mouth 

 characteristic of the species. Up to this stage there is little pigment. At a length 

 of 27 mm. about one-fourth of the eye appears above the profile, but even at 34 mm. 

 (the largest pelagic stage yet found) the eye has not entirely completed its migration 

 (fig. 241), though the pigmentation is stronger on the right side than on the left, 

 and the caudal fin, previously rounded, has become square tipped. The younger 

 larvae (up to about 25 mm. in length) are recognizable by the curiously upturned 

 snout. Those large enough to show that they belong to some right-handed, large- 

 mouthed flounder are easily separated from the American plaice larvae (the only 

 other Gulf of Maine flatfish, except for the very rare Greenland halibut, which they 

 resemble in early stages) by the outlines of the head and abdomen. The smallest 

 halibut yet taken on the bottom was about 4% inches long and already showed 

 all the diagnostic features of the adult. 



166. Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides Walbaum) 

 Turbot; Greenland turbot; American turbot; Newfoundland turbot 



Jordan and Evermann, 1S96-1900, p. 2611. 



Description. — This is a right-handed, large-mouthed flatfish (that is, it lies on 

 the left side with eyes on the right side and abdomen at the right edge), with slightly 

 forked tail and symmetrical ventral fins like a halibut. In fact it so closely resembles 

 the latter that it might easily be taken for one were it not that the lateral line is 

 nearly straight (not arched) abreast of the pectoral, and that its long fins (dorsal 

 and anal) are of rather different outline (compare fig. 242 with fig. 238), though with 

 about the same number of rays (about 100 dorsal and 75 anal). Its mouth, further- 

 more, is larger and its jaw teeth stronger, though the difference in these respects 

 is not sufficient to serve as a useful field mark. It is described (we have never seen 

 it) as yellowish or grayish brown, paler below than above but not white. 



" What little we know of the early stages of the halibut is due to European students, chieQy to Schmidt (Meddelelser fra 

 Kommissionen for HavunderssSgelser, Seric: Fiskeri, Bind I, Nr. 3, 1904) and Jespersen (Ibid., Bind V, Nr. 5, 191"). 



