716 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



long and slender; scales ctenoid; lateral line nearly straight, 

 simple; dorsal fin low in front, beginning over or before the eye; 

 ventrals both lateral; caudal double truncate, produced behind. 

 This genus, as here restricted, contains three closely related 

 species, two of the north Pacific, one of the north Atlantic. All 

 are essentially arctic species, inhabiting shallow waters in the 

 regions where they are most abundant. 



359 Hippoglossoides platessoides (Fabricus) 

 Rough Dab 



Pleuronectes platessoides FABRICIUS, Fauna Groenlandica, 164, 1780, Green- 

 land. 



Platessa dentata STORER, Rep. Fish. Mass. 143, 1839; Hist. Fish. Mass. 197, 

 pi. XXX, fig. 3, 1867; DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 298, 1842, New 

 York markets. 



Hippoglossoides dentatus GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. IV, 406, 1862. 



Hippoglossoides platessoides GILL, Proc.Ac. Nat *Sci. Phila. 217, 1864; GOODE 

 & BEAN, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 7, 1879; JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, IT. 

 S. Nat. Mus. 826, 1883; GOODE, Fish & Fish. Ind. U. S. I, 197, pi. 55, 

 1884; GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic Ichth. 438, 1896; H. M. SMITH, Bull U. 

 S. F. C. 1897, 108, 1898; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 

 Ill, 2614, 1898; IV, pi. COCLXXII, fig. 919, 1900. 



The length of the body is two and one half times its depth 

 and three and three fourths times the length of the head. Body 

 ovate; mouth moderate, oblique; maxillary narrow, reaching to 

 beyond pupil, two and two thirds in length of head; teeth rather 

 small, conic, larger anteriorly, in one row in each jaw, those 

 in the lower largest; eyes rather large, the upper longer than 

 snout, four and one third in head; lower jaw included, but with 

 a projecting knob at the chin; snout thick and scaly; inter- 

 orbital space narrow, with a raised obtuse ridge, entirely cov- 

 ered with rough scales in about six series; mandible with a 

 series of scales; gill rakers rather short and robust, not toothed, 

 about 10 below angle; longest raker less than one third length 

 of eye; fins with small, rough scales; a strong preanal spine; 

 pectoral not quite half length of head. D. 88 (80 to 93); A. 70 

 (64 to 75); Lat. 1.90 (pores). 



Reddish brown, nearly plain. North Atlantic; abundant 

 northward on both coasts. 



