Jorda n and Evcrm ann. Fishes of North A merica . 2629 



2996. PA11ALICHTHYS DENTATUS (Linnieus). 

 FLOUNDER.) 



Head 3 to 4 ; depth 2| ; eye 6 in head ; maxillary 2 ; pectoral 2 - ; ven- 

 tral 3A ; caudal peduncle 4 ; caudal 1. D. 86 to 91 ; A. 65 to 71 ; lateral line 

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

 maxillary about | head, reaching 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 -j- 18 in 

 number; iuterorbital area a rather flattish 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 accessory scales ; vertebra} 11 -f- 

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

 white spots on body and vertical fins; sometimes a series of larger white 

 spots along bases of dorsal and anal fins; 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 opposite, and forming pairs ; 2 pairs of smaller less distinct spots 

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

 small one on lateral line in the center between them; a large distinct spot 

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

 dark blotches. Atlantic coast of United States, from Cape Cod to Florida; 

 the common flounder 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 by nearly all writers with the more southern 

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

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

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

 onymy from that of P. letkostigmm. So far as the proper nomenclature of 

 the two is concerned, this confusion makes little difference. There is no 

 doubt that this is the original Pleuronectes deniatus of Linnaeus, as the 

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

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

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

 who properly distinguishes his ocellaris from his oblonga, the latter being 

 P. lethostiymus. A little doubt must be attached to the P. melanogaster of 

 Mitchill, very scantily described from a doubled (black-bellied) exam- 

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

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

 fish belonged to it. We have also received a doubled example from New 

 York corresponding exactly to MitchilPs description. We may therefore 

 regard the name melanoy aster as a synonym of dentatus. The differences 

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

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

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

 under the name Paralichthys opkryas. The discovery of the Linna^an type 

 of Pleuronectes dentatus has rendered a reconsideration of this matter 



