32 6. AMERICAN FISHES. 



is found abundant in Bedford Basin, the inner expansion of Halifax Harbor;, 

 at a dejjth of thirty-seven fathoms. It ranges nearly to Greenland, and is- 

 also found on the coast of Northern Europe, where it is found in the 

 Trondhjem Fjord, in latitude 65°, and south to the coast of Ireland. Its 

 thermal range appears to be confined by the limits 34° and 45°. 



It breeds abundantly in our waters in summer time, numerous individuals, 

 full of spawn, and young from half an inch upward, having been taken,,, 

 from July to October, in various localities. 



The Pole Flounder has been pronounced, by all who have tasted it, a 

 most delicious food-fish, resembling more closely than any other species on 

 our coast the English Sole, having a great quantity of jicculiarly flavored 

 mucilaginous tissue about the base of the fins ; it has never been taken by 

 our fishermen, because, on account of its exceedingly small and weak 

 mouth, it could not hold fast to an ordinary hook and line ; and, should 

 it ever come into demand, it will be necessary for our fisherman to intro- 

 duce the English trawl-net. 



The Turbot, or Steinbutt, Rhombus maximus, and the Brill, or Glatt- 

 butt, do not occur in our waters, although many attempts have been made 

 to prove that they do. The nearest representative of the Turbot is the 

 Spotted Sand Flounder, Lophopsetta maculata, a species found from Bucks- 

 port, Maine, to Fort Macon, North Carolina, variously known along the 

 coast as Water Flounder, Window-pane, and Daylight ; the latter name 

 refers to the remarkable thinness of the fish, its flesh being so transparent 

 that, when held to the light, the shadow of an object on the other side 

 can be seen. Its flavor is good, but the amount of flesh is so small that 

 it is of no consequence as a food-fish. There are other smaller represen- 

 tatives of the family on the southern coast, and in deep water from Cape 

 Cod southward, belonging to the genus Cifhaj-ichtliys, which, although 

 edible, are never eaten. 



The Sand Dab, or rough Dab, Hippoglossoides platessoides, also some- 

 times known as the Rusty Flounder, is taken in winter by the line fisher- 

 men of New England, and small quantities are doubtless brought to market 

 and sold with other flat fishes without discrimination as to species. It of- 

 ten attains the length of twenty to twenty-four inches, and the weight of 

 two to five pounds, and is, in all respects, a desirable food-fish, being 

 highly esteemed on the other side of the Atlantic. In summer, individ- 

 uals of this species are to be found only in very deep water, thirty fathoms 



