NOTES ON A NEW SPECIES OF FLATFISH FROM OFF THE 

 COAST OF NEW ENGLAND. 



By WILLIAM C. KENDALL, 

 Assistant, Bureau of Fisheries. 



About April i8, 1912, the Bureau of Fisheries received from Mr. John R. Neal, of 

 Boston, three specimens of flounders taken in an otter trawl on one of the offshore banks 

 of New England. An examination of these specimens and comparison with known 

 American and European flatfish indicated that they were a hitherto undescribed species. 



On ^lay 22,11 additional specimens were received from Mr. Neal, by request, and 

 examination supported the view that they were new to science. 



Something over 15 years ago the writer was told by a Georges Banks fisherman 

 that occasionally flounders were taken on Georges Banks that were known to the 

 fishermen as "lemon sole," owing to their prevailing yellow coloration. The identity 

 of this fish was never definitely determined, but it was thought that it was probably 

 the "rusty dab" (Limanda jcrruginca). i\Ir. B. A. Bean, Assistant Curator of Fishes, 

 United States National Museum, recently informed the writer that a number of years 

 ago the Museum received from Mr. Eugene Blackford, of Fulton Market, New York, a 

 number of large flounders taken in deep water off the New England coast which were 

 then decided to be a deep-water form of Pscudopleuronectes americanus. 



While the differences between this form and P. americanus are not very great, 

 they appear to be collectively constant, although many of the characters individually 

 approach P. americanus very closely. In fact, some of them, especially those exhibited 

 by single specimens of each form examined, may disappear in an examination of larger 

 series, particularly of fish of similar sizes, as the gillrakers and teeth of most fishes vary 

 in number and character with the age of the fish. All of the differences, even, may be 

 found to intergrade, but on the principle that a binomial name should represent what is 

 known rather than what is not, it is believed that what is shown in the following descrip- 

 tions and tables entitles this fish to be considered a distinct species until complete 

 intergradation shall have been proved. Should such an intergradation be discovered, 

 the name will only be lengthened to a trinomial and will still bear the terminal attributive 

 signifying "worthy." 



The most conspicuous differential characteristics of this species consist of a somewhat 

 shorter head, a larger number of vertical fin rays, the coloration, and the large size 



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