REPORT OF COMMISSIOXERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 163 



ported from Casco Bay and on the Massachusetts shore in several 

 places north of Buzzards Bay (Kendall, 1908). 



Season I^f R. I.: Probably common through the year in deep water. 

 Specimens, have been taken on the Pecten ground, off Watch Hill, 

 Rhode Island (Goode, 1880). Large specimen taken in beam trawl 

 south of Plum Beach Light, December 22, 1908. Common in East 

 Passage from December first through cold weather. 



Food: Crustacea, molluscs, annelids, small fishes. 



Reproduction : Little is definitely known with regard to the reproduction 

 of this fish. Stephen R. Williams, while collecting young flatfishes 

 at Woods Hole in June, 1898 and 1899, found flatfish larvse wiiich 

 at the metamorphosis, measured 13 to 14 mm., and which were bulky 

 and much pigmented. These specimens were considered as possibly 

 the young of the rusty flatfish (Williams, 1902). 



Size: The average size is stated to be about 14 inches in length. The 

 specimen described by De Kay was 18 inches long and 8.5 inches broad. 



193. P.seudopleuronectes aniericanus (Walbaum). Flatfish; Winter 

 Flounder. 



Geog. DiST.: Atlantic coast; Labrador to Chesepeake Bay. 



Migrations: Moves very little with the change of season, but goes out 

 into somewhat deeper water during the hot summer months. 



Habitat: Grassy and muddy bottoms. 



Season in R. I.: Present the year round. More abundant in late winter 

 and spring while spawning, and in October. A few are taken in traps 

 in the summer, but it is not so common at that time as the summer 

 flounder (Paralichthys dentatus). A specimen five inches long M'as 

 seined at Willow Beach near "Wickford, July 17, 1905. A dark- 

 bellied variety appeared in Greenwich Bay in 1897; apparently these 

 have since disappeared (Bull. U. S. Fish Com., 19, 1898, 305). 



Reproduction: Sjjawns from February to April. The eggs are 1-30 

 of an inch in diameter and very glutinous. The average number of 

 eggs in a single individual is 500,000. The eggs hatch in 17 or 18 days 

 in water 37° or 38° F. (Smith, 1898). Brice, Report, U. S. Fish Com., 

 Com., XXIII, 1897, 215; WiUiams, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Camb., 

 XL, 1902, 4. 



Rate of Growth: The later rate of growth cannot be readily determined 

 except by taking the averages of a large number of measurements of 

 flatfishes captured at different seasons. Larvse 1-5 inch (4 and 5 mm.) 

 in length taken in tow March 28, 1908. In each of the lobster-rearing 



