Jordan and Evennann. Fishes of North America. 2G49 



1038. LIOPSETTA, Gill. 

 (EEL-BACK FLOUNDERS.) 



Liopsetta, GlLL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1864, 217 (glaber) ; females. 

 Euchalarodus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1864, 222 (putnami) ; males. 



Teeth chiefly nuiserial, incisor-like; scales imperfectly imbricated, 

 rough ctenoid in the male, more or less cycloid in the female (fin rays 

 scaly in the male, naked in the female) ; lower pharyngeals very large, 

 more or less united in the adult, their surface somewhat concave, with 

 teeth in 5 or 6 rows, large, blunt, close set ; lateral line without arch 

 or dorsal branch. This genus comprises several species of small flounders 

 of the Arctic seas. The genus is distinguished by the large, half-united 

 pharyiigeals, as also by the peculiar squamation, the scales in the males 

 being very rough, in the females smooth. This difference has given rise 

 to the nominal genus Enchalarodus, based on the males, while Liopsctta was 

 based on the smoother females, which were erroneously supposed to be 

 scaleless. (A.2o, smooth; ifiijrra, flounder.) 



a. Dorsal rays 55 or 56; anal 40 to 42. 



b. Pectoral fin short, \ length of head in males, shorter in females. GLACIALIS, 3020. 

 bb. Pectoral fin long, 1 in head in males, nearly 2 in females. PUTNAMI, 3021. 



aa. Dorsal rays 59 to 62 ; anal 45 or 46 ; pectoral If in head in males. OBSCUBA, 3022. 



3020. LIOPSETTA GLACIALIS (Pallas). 

 (ABCTic FLOUNDER.) 



Head 4 ; depth 2. D. 56; A. 42. Form of Liopsetta putnami. A rough- 

 ened ridge above the cheeks and opercles on the eyed side. Eyes separated 

 by a narrow, smooth, bony ridge. Scales minute, embedded, .nonimbri- 

 cate, ctenoid in the males, smooth in the females; scales 011 blind side 

 similar, less developed; scales of lateral line a little larger. Teeth col- 

 ored, incisor-like, forming an even edge, mostly on blind side. An anal 

 spine; pectorals short. Dark brown, the fins spotted. Arctic shores of 

 Alaska and Siberia, south in Bering Sea to Petropaulski, St. Michaels, and 

 Bristol Bay. Our specimens from Port Clarence, Petropaulski, Bristol 

 Bay, mouth of Nushagak River, and Kotzebue Sound; the description 

 from specimens from the last-named locality taken by Dr. Bean. It is 

 said to be abundant in the Arctic Ocean and as far south as Bristol 

 Bay. " Although small, its great abundance and fine flavor make it impor- 

 tant as an article of food." The male is the rough fish described by Pallas 

 as P. cicatrices us. The smoother female is Dr. Giinther's Pleuronectes frank- 

 linii, the sexual differences being much as in Liopsetta putnand. Liopsetta 

 dvinensis of the northern coasts of Russia may be the same species, (yla- 

 cialis, icy.) 



Pleuronectes glacialis, PALLAS, Itin., in, App., 706, mouth of River Obi ; BLOCK & 

 SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth., 150, 1801 ; PALLAS, Zoogr. Eosso-Asiat., m, 424, 1811 ; EICHARD- 

 SON, FaunaBor.-Amer.,Fish., 258, 1836; DsKAY, N.Y.Fauna:'Fishes,302, 1842; STORER, 

 Synopsis Fish. N. A., 479, 1846; BEAN, Proc. U. S.Nat. Mua. 1881, 241; JORDAN & GIL- 

 BERT, Synopsis, 837, 1883 ; BEAN, Cat. Coll. Fish. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., 20, 1883 ; BEAN, Nat. 

 Hist. Aquat. Anim., 184, pi. 47, 1884. 



Pleuronectes cicatrwoaus, PALLAS, Zoogr. Eosso-Asiat., in, 424, 1811, male, sea between 

 Kamchatka and Alaska. 



3030 89 



