2652 Bulktin ^7, United States National Museum. 



imbricated ; similar tubercles l)etwet-'U bases of dorsal and anal rays ; lateral 

 Hue without scales, with no anterior arch or accessory lateral line; lower 

 pharyngeals broad, each with 3 rows of blunt coarse teeth. A single 

 species, the largest of the small-mouthed flounders, and distinguished 

 from related forms chiefly by the development of coarse stellate tubercles 

 instead of scales. (;rAarr5, flat; /^&z35, flsh.) 



3(>23. I'LATICHTIIVS STKLLATl S (Pallas). 



(Great Flounder.) 



Head 3* ; depth 2. I).5S; A. 42. y(^rtobr;e 34. Body broad and short, 

 the snout forming a slight angle Avith the proflle; lower jaw projecting; 

 interocular space rather broad, with very rough scales; large rough scales 

 at base of dorsal and anal rays and on sides of head; similar but smaller 

 scales scattered over the body; lateral line smooth; flns without scales; 

 a cluster of bony prominences above opercle. Teeth incisor-like, trun- 

 cate, rather broad, y^rxy^. Lower iiharyngeals broad, with coarse paved 

 teeth. Dark brown or nearly black, with lighter markings; fins reddish 

 brown; dorsal and anal with 4 or 5 vertical black bands; caudal with 

 3 or 4 black longitudinal bauds. Pacific coast of America, from Point Con- 

 cepcion to the Arctic Ocean and south to the Amur RiA^er. This is one of 

 the largest of the American flounders, reaching a weight of 15 to 20 

 pounds. Of the small-mouthed flounders it is much the largest species 

 known. It is an excellent food-fish, and from its size and abundance it is 

 one of the most important of the group in the region where it is found, con- 

 stituting half the total catch of flounders on our Pacific coast, and it is 

 (■(jually abundant in Bering Sea. It lives in shallow water and sometimes 

 ascends the larger rivers. It is one of the most widely distributed of all 

 the flounders, its range extending from San I^uis Obispo, where it was 

 obtained by Jordan & Gilbert, to the month of the Anderson and Colville 

 rivers on the Arctic coast, where it was observed by Dr. Bean, and to 

 Port Clarence, where Mr. Scotield obtained specimens. We have also 

 specimens from PetroiJaulski, Bering, Medni, and Robben islands and 

 from Bristol Bay. A specimen from the island of Saghalien in Asia is iu 

 the museum at Cambridge, (stellatits, starry.) 



Pleuronectes stellatvs, Pallas, Zoographia Ro.ssoAsiatica, hi, 416, 1811, Kamchatka, 

 Aleutian and Kuril Islands; GuNTHEK, Cat., IV, 443, 1862; Steindachnek, Pleur. von 

 Decastris Bay, 1870,1; .Tordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Kat. Mus. 1880, 453; Jordan & 

 Gilbert, Proc.TJ.S.]Srat.Mu.s. 1881, 68; Bean, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 420; Jor- 

 dan & Gilbert, Synopsis 835, 1883; Bean, Proc. V. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 353; Bean. 

 Cat. Coll. Fish. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 20; Jordan, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Auim., 184, pi. 46, 

 1884. 



Platiehthys nir/osus\ Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 139, 155, San Francisco; 

 Presidio; Petaluma ; Gieard, V. S. Pac. E. R. Surv., x. Fishes, 148, 1858. 



Platesm .stcllata, Ue K^VY, N. Y. Fauna: Fishes, 301, 1842; Stoker, Synopsis, 478, 1846. 



Platiehthys titcllatus, L(jCKiNaT(,)N, Rep. Com. Fish. Cal. 1878-79, 43; Lockington, Proc. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 91; Jordan &, Goss, Review Flounders and Soles, 296, 1889. 



