508 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



General range and occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This flounder is known only 

 on Georges Bank and it was overlooked there until very recently, for due to its 

 small mouth it is seldom caught on the large hooks used by cod and haddock hand- 

 line and line-trawl fishermen, but when the otter trawlers commenced operations 

 on the bank they began at once to take large numbers of these "soles" or "lemon 

 soles," as they are usually dubbed by fishermen. They are most plentiful on the 

 shoaler parts of the bank, only odd ones being taken below 40 fathoms, with 70 

 fathoms as the deepest definite record for the species. More or less "soles" are 

 brought in on every otter-trawling trip (anyTvhere from a few hundred to several 

 thousand fish, according to depth and precise location on the bank) , and during the 

 summer of 1913 these "soles " constituted about 4 per cent in nmnber of all the fish 

 caught by the several otter trawlers that carried investigators from the Bureau 

 of Fisheries, about 600,000 pounds being marketed. Exact figures of the present-day 

 landings can not be given, "soles" not being separated from other fiatfish in the 

 returns, but they certainly constituted the majority of the 1,500,000 poimds of 

 flounders landed in Boston and Gloucester from Georges Bank in 1919, which gives 

 some measure of their local abundance. 



Habits. — Nothing is known of the habits of this fish except the depth of water 

 in which it lives, that it spawns in Api-il and May as proven by the capture of ripe 

 fish, and that it feeds largely on hydroids and to a less extent on small crabs and 

 other invertebrates. Presumably its manner of life parallels that of the winter 

 floimder, and its eggs, like those of the latter, will probably prove to be demersal, 

 not buoyant. 



173. Smooth flounder {Liopsetta putnami Gill) 

 Smoothback flounder; Eelback; Foolfish; Christmas Flounder; Plaice 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2650. 



Description. — This flatfish is right-handed (eyes on the right side) and small- 

 mouthed like the winter flounder, dab, and witch, and it closely resembles the 

 former (wdth which it is often caught) in its general outline and in the considerable 

 thickness of its body, but is distinguishable by the fact that the skin of its head 

 between the eyes is smooth and scaleless. Females arc more easily recognized than 

 males, their bodies being smooth to the touch on both sides. Males are nearly as 

 rough skinned on the eyed side (except between the eyes) as winter flounders, but ■ 

 they have much longer pectoral fins than the latter. Both sexes have fewer fin rays 

 (only 65 to 67 dorsal and 35 to 40 anal) , while the caudal fin of the smooth flounder 

 is narrower and more rounded than that of the winter flounder. 



The smooth flounder can always be separated from the dab by the facts that 

 its very prominent lateral line is straight, not arched, the dorsal Qeft) profile of its. 

 head is straight, not concave, and its fin rays are fewer. It has little more than 

 half as many dorsal and anal rays as the witch, and the facts that its long fins are 

 highest midway of the bodj' and tapering toward the head and tail, whereas the}'" 



