Jordan and EvoDiann . — Fishes of North America. 2C29 



2996. PARALICHTHYS DENTATUS (Linnaeus). 



(SujiJiER Flounder.) 



Head 3^ to 4; depth 2*; eye Gin head; maxillary 2; pectoral 2L; ven- 

 tral 3A ; caudal peduncle 4 ; caudal 1^. D. 8G to 91 ; A. 65 to 71 ; lateral line 

 108 (tubes). Curve of lateral lino 3f to 4 J in straight jiortiou ; body ovate ; 

 maxillary about .1 head, reachiu<if past posterior margin of eye; mouth 

 large, oblique, the gape curved; canines large, conical, wide set; gill 

 rakers comparatively long and slender, longest f eye, 5 + 15 to 6 -f- 18 in 

 number; interorbital area a rather llattish ridge, in the adult about equal 

 to vertical diameter of eye, narrower in the young, forming a bony ridge; 

 scales cycloid, each with numerous small accessorj'^ scales; vertel)rii3 11 + 

 30 = 41. Color in life, light olive brown; adults with very numerous small 

 white spots on 1)ody and vertical tins; sometimes a series of larger white 

 spots along 1)ases of dorsal and anal lins; about 14 ocellated dark spots 

 on sides, these sometimes little conspicuous, but always present; a series 

 of 4 or 5 along base of dorsal, and 3 or 4 along base of anal, those of the 

 2 series o])posite, and forming pairs ; 2 pairs of smaller less distinct s])ots 

 midway between these basal series and lateral line anteriorly, with a 

 small one on lateral line in the center 1)etween them; a large distinct spot 

 on lateral line behind middle of straight portion; fins without the round 

 dark l)lotches. Atlantic coast of United States, from Cape Cod to Florida; 

 the common Houuder of the coasts of the Northern States, its range 

 apparently not extending much south of Charleston, Of the species 

 found in that region it is the most important from a commercial point of 

 view. It reaches a length of about 3 feet and a weight of about 15 pounds. 

 It has been confounded ))y nearly all writers with the more southern 

 species now called P. lithostujinus, from which it is best distinguished by 

 its much greater number of gill rakers and by its mottled coloration. On 

 account of this confusion it is impossible wholly to disentangle its syn- 

 onymy from that of P. htltostu/iniis. So far as the proper nomenclature of 

 the two is concerned, this confusion makes little dili'erence. There is no 

 doubt that this is the original Fleuronectes deniatus of Linnieus, as the 

 original Linmean type is still preserved in London. This has Iteeu ex- 

 amined by Dr. Bean and its identity with the present species fully estab- 

 lished. It seems also certain that this is the Platessa ocdlaris of De Kay, 

 who projierly distinguishes his ocularis from his ohlouga, the latter being 

 P. h'tho8ti(/mus. A little doubt must l)e attached to the P. melanoyanter of 

 Mitchill, A'ery scantily described from a doubled (Idack-bellied) exam- 

 ple of this species or of P. Icthosiiginns. As the former species is much 

 more common about New York than the latter it is probable that Mitchill's 

 tish Ijelonged to it. We have also received a doubled example from New 

 York corresponding exactly to Mitchill's description. We may therefore 

 regard the name mehinogaster as a synonym of dcntatns. The ditferences 

 in the gill rakers of these species were first noticed by Jordan & Gilbert 

 in 1883. These authors erroneously referred all these synonyms to the 

 siJecies with the few gill rakers and described the present one as new 

 under the name Paralichthys ophryas. The discovery of the Linna;au type 

 of Plewonectes dentatus has rendered a reconsideration of this matter 



