FISHES OP THE GULF OF MAINE 341 



Georges Bank flounder, Pseudopleuronectes dignabilis Kendall 



Tliis flounder, previously known only from the Georges Bank area, is now re- 

 ported from the eastern edge of the Scotian banks and the western part of the Grand 

 Banks of Newfoundland (Nfld. Rept., 1934 (1935), p. 79). 



Witch flounder, Glyptocephalus cynoglossus (Linnaeus) 



The witch flounder has recently been found to be generally distributed in the 

 central basin of the Gulf of Maine where the Albatross II and Atlantis trawled it 

 down to 140 fathoms, in July 1931 and in August 1936, respectively. Goode and 

 Bean's (1896, p. 433) record of it in latitude 34°39' at a depth of 603 fathoms (omitted 

 in Bigelow arid Welsh, 1925) shows that it ranges southward to the offing of Cape 

 Hatteras in deep water. But the most southerly record of it in shoal water is a 

 specimen taken by Albatross II in 10 fathoms off Virginia (lat. 37°50')- 



Many specimens from 3 to 5 inches and from 7 to 8% inches long were taken 

 from July to September suggesting that the witch reaches a length of about 4 inches 

 at 1 year and about 8 inches at 2 years of age. 



Gulf Stream flounder, Citharichthys arctifrons u Goode 



This little flounder was formerly believed to reach a length of only about 4 

 inches but recently the Albatross II collected many specimens up to 7 inches long. 



Recent trawling experience extends knowledge of its distribution by showing 

 that it may occur as shoal as 12 fathoms, and that it finds its northeastern boundary 

 off the southeastern slope of Georges Bank and its southwestern boundary off Cape 

 Hatteras. Usually only a few specimens are taken in any given trawl haul, even 

 further to the west and south where the species appears to be most common; hence, 

 a catch of about 100 made by the Albatross II, off Montauk Point, N. Y., in 50 

 fathoms, is noteworthy. 



Apparently, it spawns over a long season, from spring through summer, for we 

 have found females with well-developed ovaries in February while Goode had ripe 

 ones in September. Although the Gulf Stream flounder is not large enough and 

 thus far has been found too scarce to be of commercial value, we can witness that 

 it is excellent on the table. 



American goosefish, Lophius americanus Cuvier and Valenciennes 



Recent investigations by Berrill (1929) and by Procter et al. (1928) make it 

 appear that the American goosefish, given as Lophius piscatorius in "Fishes of the Gulf 

 of Maine" (Bigelow and Welsh, 1925, p. 524), is specifically distinct from the 

 European. 



Very small goosefish are seldom reported, hence captures of 1 of 10 inches in 

 February, 1 of 10 inches in April, 2 of 7% and 10 inches, respectively, in May, 3 of 

 6% to 9 inches in July, and 3 of 4 to 4% inches in August between latitudes 43°21' N. 

 and 37°36' N. in depths ranging from 35 to 140 fathoms, are of interest. 



Sargassum fish, Histrio histrio (Linnaeus) 



A single specimen about 4% inches long, picked up in a purse seine near the sur- 

 face over the west central part of Georges Bank, by the schooner Old Glory on Sep- 

 tember 15, 1930 (Firth, 1931, p. 14), extends the known range of this fish to the Gulf 

 of Maine. 



'< Parr (1931) has made a revision of the genus Citharichthys of the western Atlantic. 



