268 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



orange, pink, and brown to almost black. 4 Its 

 upper surface is variegated with pale and dark, 

 as a rule, with the pattern fine or coarse accord- 

 ing to the bottom, and it may or may not be 

 marked with small eyespots of a darker tint of 

 the general ground color. Mast's experiments 

 show that it is slower in adapting its coloration 

 to the actual colors of the bottom than to the 

 general pattern, and also that it responds more 

 rapidly to yellows and browns than to reds, greens, 

 or blues, on which the adaptation may not reach 

 its maximum for two or three months. He also 

 observed that the skin simulates the pattern of 

 the background, and does not reproduce the 

 latter. 



Size. — Summer flounders ordinarily grow to a 

 maximum weight of 15 pounds or so, and to a 

 length of 3 feet, or a little more, though one of 

 about 30 pounds has been reported as taken off 

 Fishers Island about 1915. 5 The largest of winch 

 we find definite record weighed 26 pounds. The 

 largest on record, taken in sport fishing, was 37 

 inches long, weighing 20 pounds, caught at Oak 

 Beach, N. Y., September 7, 1948, by F. H. Kessel, 

 but the average size of the fish caught is only 2 

 to 5 pounds. The relation of length to weight is 

 about as follows : 9 



Average weight, 



Length pounds 



15-16 inches 1 to 1% 



17-18 inches 2 to 2% 



20 inches 3 to 3H 



22 inches 4 



27 inches 8 



30 inches 10 



37 inches 20 



Habits. — Many fluke come close inshore during 

 the warm half of the year, when they are caught 

 regularly both along open coasts and in bays and 

 harbors, the smaller sizes often from docks and 

 bridges, and some even run up into fresh water 

 rivers. But the great majority of the population, 

 especially of the larger ones, lie farther offshore 

 even at that season, in depths of 8 to 10 fathoms 

 and deeper, at least in the northern part of the 

 fluke's geographic range, as illustrated by the fact 

 that nearly 40 times as many (by weight) are 

 landed in New Jersey and in New York by otter 



» Mast, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 34, 1916, p. 177. 



■ Nichols and Breder, Zoologica. N. Y. Zool. Soc, vol. 9, 1927, p. 177. 



• From Goode, Fish. Ind., U. S., Sect. 1, 1884, p. 179; Hildebrand and 

 Schroeder, Bull. V. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 43, Ft. 1, 1928, p. 167; and World 

 Record Marine Game Fishes, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., New York, to 1950. 



trawlers as from the many pound nets operating 

 there. 7 And all of those that do come close inshore 

 from Chesapeake Bay northward move offshore 

 again at some time during the autumn, presum- 

 ably to escape winter chilling. 



The earliest landings from offshore of which we 

 have heard for southern New England have been 

 on October 6th, when some were brought in to 

 Woods Hole from northwest of Nantucket Light- 

 ship, from 25 fathoms, and on the 16th of that 

 same month, when the dragger Eugene H landed 

 6,000 pounds, taken west of Nantucket Lightship 

 in about 25 fathoms. Corresponding to this, only 

 a few are seen near Woods Hole after the middle 

 of October, or after the last week of November 

 near New York. And very few reappear near 

 New York before the first week in May, or before 

 about the 10th of May near Woods Hole. 



It has been learned since the first edition of this 

 book appeared that the medium sized and larger 

 ones, at any rate, pass the winter and early spring 

 out on the continental shelf from the 25 to 30 

 fathom contour about to the 80 fathom contour. 

 Otter trawlers now make paying catches there as 

 far north and east as the offing of southern New 

 England, and as far south as the offing of northern 

 North Carolina, during the part of the year when 

 there are only a few "fluke" inshore, or none at 

 all. In 1950 and 1951 , for example, the Eugene H, s 

 fishing in the general offing of Marthas Vineyard, 

 brought in many fares ranging from a few hundred 

 pounds to more than 20,000 pounds, between the 

 first week of October and the third week of May, 

 with the most productive fishing between early 

 January and mid-April, from 25 to 75 fathoms. 

 But it is doubtful whether many of them work 

 deeper than that, for the Albatross III did not take 

 any at depths greater than 80 fathoms off southern 

 New England or New York in mid-May, 1950. 



Fluke spend most of their lives on bottom, or 

 close to it, as other flatfishes do. During their 

 stay in shoal water they prefer sandy bottom, or 

 mud, where they are often seen. And it takes one 

 only an instant to bury itself to the eyes in the 

 sand. Fluke often lurk in eel grass, or among the 

 piling of docks ; but they are swift swimmers when 

 disturbed. 



' 1947 landings, New York and New Jersey, about 2,300,000 pounds by 

 otter trawlers; only about 80,000 pounds from pound nets. 

 *Information contributed by Capt. Henry Klimm. 



