FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



517 



light. Its pectorals, too, are longer than in the other left-handed species, its caudal 

 fin is more rounded, and its teeth much smaller, although the gape is as wide. The 

 dorsal (65 to 67 rays) and anal (51 or 52 rays) fins both taper toward head and 

 tail, while both are noticeably thick and fleshy at the base, and there is no free anal 

 spine. The pectoral on the eyed side is longer and more pointed than its mate 

 on the bhnd side, the scales are smooth to the touch, and the lateral line is bowed 

 abreast of the pectoral fin. 



Color. — The sand flounder varies less in color than most shoal-water flatfish, 

 the general ground tint of the eyed side (both as described by previous authors and 

 in those we have seen) being some shade of pale, rather translucent, greenish olive 

 or slightly reddish or slaty brown, more or less mottled with dark and light and 

 usually, if not always, dotted with many small bro-svn spots of irregular outline. 





Fig. 268.— Sand flounder (Lophopsetta maculala) 



Some fish are also marked on the body and on the bases of the vertical and caudal 

 fins with white spots of varying number and size, but others lack these spots. The 

 dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are of the general body tint more or less mottled with 

 darker, while the pectoral of the eyed side is dark crossbarred or speckled. The 

 blind side is white. 



Size.— The maximmn length is 18 inches and the weight 2 pounds. The 

 largest we have seen (from Waquoit on the southern shore of Massachusetts) , were 

 about 15 inches long, but in general adult fish are only about 10 to 12 inches in 

 length. 



General range. — Shoal water off the coast of eastern North America from the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence to South Carolina. It is most abundant west and south of 

 Cape Cod, north and east of which it is nowhere numerous, and is confined to 

 favorable localities. 



