322 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



would seemingly partly explain the cause of the 

 difficulty of referring occasional individual speci- 

 mens from that coast to their proper species. For 

 instance, the two border-line specimens discussed 

 above (p. 282) having a high fin-ray count, near 

 the extreme of the distribution of the genus as a 

 whole, and gill rakers in intermediate numbers, 

 might be hybrids between dentatns and lefho- 

 stigma (see also fig. 4). However, it is evident 

 from the form of the frequency distributions that 

 the number of hybrids, if indeed any do occur, 

 are not numerous. In any case, it would require 

 more detailed studies to prove the presence of 

 hybrids and to show how they may be identified. 

 It should be emphasized that the only substantial 

 evidence sliowing the probable existence of hy- 

 bridism consists of a rather slight irregularity in 

 the frequency distributions of the characters 

 studied. This evidence is certainly not conclusive. 

 On the contrary, irregularity of frequency distri- 

 butions appears to be the rule rather than the 

 exception in nature. No evidence of hybridism 

 between lethostigma and cJhigutta was found on 

 the Oulf coast where those two are the only com- 

 mon species. 



Economic Importance. — The summer flounder is 

 one of the important food fishes. The meat is of 

 excellent quality and generally esteemed, resem- 

 bling in flavor the halibut. It is taken chiefly dur- 

 ing the warmer months of the year, between April 

 and November, from shallow water to a depth of 

 about 20 fathoms, the bulk of the commercial catch 

 being captured between 5 and 15 fathoms. As 

 may be expected from its bottom living habit, it 

 is taken in the greatest numbers by the gear most 

 suitable for taking bottom fish, by trawls. Large 

 numbers are also taken in stationary gear, such as 

 pound nets, fyke nets, weirs, and traps. Consid- 

 erable quantities are taken by baited hook and 

 line and to a lesser extent also by haul seines. As 

 stated, the catch of this species had been confined 

 chiefly to the months of April to November. 

 Within recent years a special winter trawl fishery 

 has developed otf the coasts of Virginia and North 

 Carolina which during the winter of 1930-31 pro- 

 duced a yield of this species of more than a million 

 pounds (Pearson 1932). 



The recent annual yield of this species, in round 

 figures, is 13 million pounds, worth $2,150,000 to 

 the fishermen. These figures are obtained by 



adding the statistics compiled by the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service for "fluke" fi'om Massachusetts 

 to Delaware and those under the heading of 

 "flounder" for Maryland and Virginia. The name 

 "fluke'' refers to the present species. The catch of 

 "flounder" in the latter two States consists chiefly 

 of Paralichthys dentatns, but includes a variable, 

 an unknown percentage of Pseudopleuronectes 

 americamh<i, which is greater in the Maryland catch 

 and smaller in that of Virginia. The statistics 

 used are those for 1945 for New Jersey and Dela- 

 ware and for 1946 for the other States. 



Synonymy. — The following involved synonymy 

 of this species appears to be correct, as indicated by 

 the accounts of authors. In a few cases, the speci- 

 mens on which the records are based were ex- 

 amined. Attention may be called again to the 

 fact that some early accounts by American writers 

 employing the specific name dcntatus for a flatfish 

 (see, for instance, Storer in Hist. Fish. Mass., p. 

 197, pi. 30, fig. 3, 18G7), refer to Hippoglossoides 

 platcssoidcs, and that the inclusion of such refer- 

 ences by later writers in the synonymy of this 

 species is erroneous. 



Pleiironectes (le)itiitiiK Linnaeus, S.v.st. Nat., e«l. 12, pt. 

 1, p. 4.">8, 17(i6 (Cariilina). 



Plcuronrctes Vuwitus Linnaeus, ibiil., p. 459 (not 

 Pleuronectes lunatus L. of the tenth edition Syst. Nat., 

 according to Giiuther 1861 and Goode and Bean 1885). 



Pleuronectes dextatus Walbaum, Gen. Pise, p. 116, 1702 

 (Carolina). — Block and Schneider, Sys. lohth., p. 156, 

 1801 (North America). — Mitchill, Tr. Lit. Pliil. Soc. New 

 York 1: 390, 1815 (New Yorli). 



Pleuronectes mrlunogaster Mitchii.l, ibid. ( Ne\y Yorlv, 

 based on a teratological specimen ) . 



Pleuronectes aquosus Stoker (not Mitchill). Boston 

 Jour. Nat. Hist. 1: 352, 1836 (Massachusetts). 



Rlioinbiis aquosiis Stober (not Mitchill), ibid., 2: 484 

 (Rep. Fish. Mass., p. 146) 1839 (Boston market). 



Platessa oblonf/a De Kay (not Mitchill), Zool. New 

 York, Fishes p. 299, pi. 48, tig. 156, 1842 ( New York). 



Plutexsa oceUaris De Kat, ibid., p. 300, pi. 47, tig. 152, 

 1842 (New York). 



Plutessa oblotifia Linsi.ky (not Mitchill), Auier. Jour. 

 Sci. Art. 47:72, 1844 (Stratford. Conn.). — Storer, Proc. 

 Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 1: 194. 1844 (teratological siieci- 

 men, no locality). — Storer Mem. Amer. Acad. Art. Sci. 

 (n. s.) 2: 477, 1846; also in Syn. Fish. North America, 

 p. 225, 1846. 



Platessa oceUaris Bairti. 9th Ann. Kep. Smithsoniiin 

 Inst., p. 340 (18.54) 1855. 



Cliacnopsctta ohlonga Gill. Cat. Fish. North America 

 (supp. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philadelphia 1862), p. 50, 1861. 



Cliuowpsotta oblonya var. oceUaris Gill, ibid. 



