wo. 1484. JAPANESE FLOUNDERS AND SOLES-JORDAN <.i- STARRS. 203 



28. LEPIDOPSETTA BILINEATA (Ayres). 



Platessa biUneata Ayres, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Cal., 1855, p. 40 (San Francisco). 



Platichthys uvibrosus Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, p. 1.36 (Puget 

 Sound). 



Plenronectes perarcuafus Cope, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1873, p. 30 (Unalaska). 



Pleuronectes umbrosus Gunther, Cat., IV, 1862, p. 454. 



Pleuronectes bUineatus Gunther, Cat., IV, 1862, p. 444. — Jordan and Gilhert, 

 Synopsis, p. 833, 1883. 



Lepidopsetta bilineata Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pliila., 1864, p. 195. — Lockington, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., 1879, p. 103; Rep. Com. Fisheries, CaUfornia, 1878-79, 

 p. 46.— Jordan and Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, p. 453; Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., 1881, p. 68.— Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, p. 241; Cat. Coll. 

 Fish. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, p. 19; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, p. 353.— Jor- 

 dan, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 1884, p. 184, pi. l. — Jordan and Go,ss, Review 

 Flounders and Soles, 1889, p. 286. — Jordan and Evermann, Bull. Fish North. 

 Mid. Amer., Ill, 1898, p. 2643, pl.cccLxxvi, fig. 928 (Alaska, etc.).— Schmidt, 

 Poiss. Mar. Orient, 1904, p. 232 (Bay of Shogun, Shendagen, Japan, INIauka, 

 Gensan, Atka). 



Habitat. — Bering Sea, south to Monterey and to Korea. 



Head, 3f ; depth, 2^. D. 80; A. 60; teeth, |$^o; scales 85. Ver- 

 te])ri\? 11+29=4:0. Body, broadly ovate, thickish; mouth moderate, 

 turned toward the left side; teeth stout, conical little compressed, 

 bluntish, in one series, rather irreg-ularh" placed. Lower pharyngeals 

 broad, with two rows of ])lunt teeth. Gillrakers few, very short, thick 

 and weak, without teeth. Snout projecting; e3'es large, separated by 

 a prominent ridge, which, like the cheeks and upper portion of oper- 

 cle, is covered with rough stellate scales; lower eye advanced; opercle, 

 subopercle, and interopercle of left side scaly; preopercle naked. 

 Scales rather small, mostl}^ ctenoid, not closely imbricated, those on 

 the blind side smooth; scales on cheeks and other parts of head very 

 rough; scales of body smoother and less closely imbricated anteriorly, 

 the degree of roughness variable, northern specimens (var. uv}hrosui<) 

 being roughest. Lateral line moderately arched anteriorh', with an 

 accessory dorsal branch, which is less than one-half length of head; 

 height of arch less than one-third its length. Dorsal l)eginning over 

 eye, its anterior ra3^s low; caudal convex; anal preceded by a spine; a 

 concealed spine behind ventrals; rays of dorsal and anal all simple; 

 dorsal and anal somewhat scaly; caudal three fifths length of head; 

 pectoral one-half head. Lower pharyngeals broad, each with two rows 

 of blunt teeth. Yellowish brown, with numerous round, pale blotches. 

 Pacific coast of America and Northern Asia, Bering Strait to Mon- 

 terey and to Sakhalin. This species is one of the connnonest of the 

 flounders of the Pacific coast, its abundance apparently increasing 

 toward the northward. In Bering Sea it far outnumbers all other 

 flounders. Schmidt records it from the Sea of Ochotsk and the Sea 

 of Japan. 



