TIDAL WATER FISHES 



discarded ; the name of " Fair Maid " is applied to 

 it also in Virginia. It is a fish of much beauty 

 of coloration, the bluish metallic tone under its 

 dorsal fin seeming to flow in waves across its body, 

 as it is lifted from the water, and when dead, to 

 settle back under the fin and deepens in metallic 

 lustre. As a hook-and-line fish, the largest of 

 them, which when four years old reach a weight 

 of nearly three pounds, fight well, and amply 

 reward the fishermen by their choice flavor as a 

 pan fish. Formerly, specimens were taken not 

 infrequently eighteen inches long and weighing 

 over four pounds. These heavy fish are somewhat 

 scarce now, owing to the value of the scup as a mar- 

 ket fish, and consequently the persistent fishing for 

 them for commercial purposes; they are caught 

 in pounds and traps in immense numbers, particu- 

 larly along the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode 

 Island. 



Of the vast number of the family of flatfishes, 

 consisting of about fifty-five genera and nearly 

 five hundred species, there are only nine forms 

 living in and visiting the comparatively shoal 

 waters of the New England and Canadian coast, 

 and of these the rod-and-line fisherman meets 

 most frequently with the two species known as 

 the winter and the summer flounder. The latter, 

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