REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [134] 



1596. Paralichthys dentatus ' Linnams. N. S. (1205) 



1597. Paralichthys lethostigma - Jordan & Gilbert. N. S. (1266) 

 2590. Paralichthys albigutta Jordan & Gilbert. S. (1267) 



1599. Paralichthys squamilentus JordaJi & Gilbert. S. (1268) 



1600. Paralichthys oblongus Mitchill. N. (1269) 



548.— ANCYLOPSETTA^ Gill. 



1601. Aiicylopsetta quadrocellata Gill. S. (1270) 



1602. Ancylopsetta dilecta * Goode & Bean. B. 



' Paralichthys denlatiis (L.) Common Spotted Flounder, Xorthern Flounder. 



Cape Cod to Florida, most abundant Jiorthward. The description in the synopsis 

 (p. 822) of P. ophryaa, belongs here. From P. lethostigma, it is especially distinguished 

 Ly the more numerous (5 + 14) gill-rakers, and by the much more spotted coloration. 

 The interorbital space is also narrower in specimens of the same size. 



{Plcnronectes dentatus L., Syst., Nat., Ed. XII, 1766, 4.')S, from a specimen from Dr. 

 Garden ; this specimen has been examined by Dr. Bean ; it belongs to the present speciesf 

 Pleiironectes mdanogaster Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., 181.5, 1, 390; Pla- 

 iessa ocellaris DeKay, New York Fauna, Fishes. 1842, 300 ; Paralichthijs ophryas Jor. •& 

 Gill)., Syn. Fish. N. A., 822; Paralichthys ocellaris Jor. &. Gilb., 1. c, 972, and Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. 1882, 617; Pseudorhomhus ocellaris Giinther, IV, 430.) 



2 Paralichthys lethostigma Jordan and Gilbert. 



Cape Cod to Florida and Texas, most abundant southward. Darker and more uni- 

 form in color than the true dentatus, the gill-rakers smaller and fewer (2 -|- 10) and 

 the interorbital space broader. 



{Platessa ohlonga DeKay, New York, Fauna, Fi.sh., 1842, 299, not Pleuronectes oblongus 

 Mitchill; P.-teudorhomhns dentatus and oblongus Giinther, IV, 425, 426, Paralichthys 

 dentatus Jot. & Gilb., Synopsis 822, and Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 617; Paralichthys 

 lethostigma Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mns. 1884, 237. The original type 

 of P. dentatus examined by Dr. Bean in London proves to belong to the species hav- 

 ing numerous gill-rakers. 



^ It .seems more natural to regard Ancylopsetta and Xystreurys as genera distinct from 

 Paralichthys. Notosema Goode «5b Bean (dilecta) seems scarcely different from Ancy- 

 lopsetta. 



■* Ancylopsetta dilecta (Goode & Bean). 



Dark brown, speckled with darker; three large, subcircular ocellated spo's, nearly 

 as large as eye, with white center, dark iris, narrow dark margin, and a brown en- 

 circling outline. The.se spots arranged in an i.sosceles triangle, the apex on the lat- 

 eral line, the others distant from the lateral line a distance eqnal to their own di- 

 ameter; the lower near tip of ventral. Fins' blotched with darker brown. Right 

 side white. Body elliptical, the caudal fin pedunculate ; mouth moderate, the max- 

 illary 2^ in head ; teeth uniserial, those in front much largest. Eye large, 3 in head, 

 the interorbital space very narrow. Gill-rakers snbtriangular, moderately numer- 

 ous. Pectoral fins unequal, the left 5^ in body. Ventral of colored side much pro- 

 iluccd. more than three times length of right ventral. First eight rays of dorsal ex- 

 serted. forming a somewhat separate division, the second and third longest half 

 ^reate>t depth of body. Scales small, highly ctenoid. Head 3^; dei)th 2. D. 69; 

 A. •'(■,: P. 11; V. 6; lat. 1. 48 (in straight portion). Gulf Stream, oft" the Carolina 

 coast. (Goode & Bean.) 



(Notosema dilecta Goode & Bean, Bull. Mns. Comp. Zocil., XIX, 193.) 



The genus Xotosema is distiTiguished from Paralichthys "on account of its elonga- 

 ted ventral fin, the triangular eiongaticm of the anterior rays of the dorsal and the 

 highly ctenoid character of the scales on the colored side of the body." These char- 

 acters are all, however, of degree only, an<l all exist in Ancylopsetta quadrocellata. 



