Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2643 



rough ctenoid, smooth in the very young. A single species, abundant on 

 the Pacific coast of North America. It is close to Inopsetta, from which it 

 is separated by the arch of the lateral line, and still closer to Limanda, 

 from which the accessory branch of the lateral line alone separates it. 

 (A.7tt$, scale; i/Jrra, flounder.) 



3012. LEPIDOPSETTA BILO'EATA (Ayres). 



Head3; depth 2. D.80; A. 60; teeth fll; scales 85. Vertebra 11 + 

 29 40. Body broadly ovate, thickish ; mouth moderate, turned toward 

 the left side; teeth stout, conical, little compressed, bluntish, in 1 series, 

 rather irregularly placed. Lower pharyngeals broad, with 2 rows of blunt 

 teeth. Gill rakers few, very short, thick and weak, without teeth. Snout 

 projecting; eyes large, separated by a prominent ridge, which, like the 

 cheeks and upper portion of opercle, is covered with rough stellate scales ; 

 lower eye advanced; opercle, subopercle, and interopercle of left side 

 scaly ; preopercle naked. Scales rather small, mostly 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 imbri- 

 cated anteriorly, the degree of roughness variable, northern specimens 

 (var. umbrosus} being roughest. Lateral line moderately arched anteriorly, 

 with an accessory dorsal branch, which is less than J length of head; 

 height of arch less than ^ its length. Dorsal beginning over eye, its ante- 

 rior rays low ; caudal convex ; anal preceded by a spine ; a concealed spine 

 behind ventrals; rays of dorsal and anal all simple ; dorsal and anal some- 

 what scaly ; caudal length of head ; pectoral head. Lower pharyngeals 

 broad, each with 2 rows of blunt teeth. Yellowish brown, with numerous 

 round pale blotches. Pacific coast of North America, Bering Strait to 

 Monterey. This .species is one of the commonest of the flounders of the 

 Pacific coast, its abundance apparently increasing toward the northward. 

 In Bering Sea it far outnumbers all other flounders. We have specimens 

 from Bering Island, Medni Island, Unalaska, St. Paul, St. George, and 

 Chignik Bay. It reaches a weight of 5 or 6 pounds and is an inhabitant 

 of shallow waters. Specimens from Puget Sound and northward are 

 rougher than southern specimens and constitute a slight geographical 

 variety, for which the name Lepidopsetta Mlineata umbrosa may be used. 

 This is the same as P.perarcuatus of Cope, (bilineatus, two-lined.) 



Platessa bilineata, AYRES, Proc. Ac. Nat, Sci. Cal. 1855, 40, San Francisco. 



Platichthys umbrosus, GIRAKD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1856, 136, Puget Sound. 



Pleuronectes perarcuatus, COPE, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1873, 30, Unalaska. 



Pleuronectes umbrosus, GUNTHER, Cat., IV, 454, 1862. 



Pleuronectes bilineatus, GUNTHER, Cat., iv, 444,1862; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 833, 



1883. 

 Lepidopsetta bilineata, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1864, 195; LOCKINQTON, Proc. IT. S. 



Nat. Mus. 1879, 103; LOCKINGTON, Kep. Com. Fisheries California, 1878-79,46; JORDAN 



& GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 453 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 



1881,68; BEAN, Proc.U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881,241; BEAN, Cat. Coll. Fish. U.S. Nat. Mus. 



1883,19; BEAN, Proc. TT. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 353; JORDAN, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., pi. 



50, 184, 1884; JORDAN & Goss, Review Flounders and Soles, 286, 1889. 



