2652 Bulletin +7, United States National Museum. 



imbricated ; similar tubercles between bases of dorsal arid anal rays ; lateral 

 line Avithout scales, with no anterior arch or accessory lateral line; lower 

 pharyngeals broad, each with 3 rows of blnnt coarse teeth. A single 

 species, the largest of the small- mouthed flounders, and distinguished 

 from related forms chiefly by the development of coarse stellate tubercles 

 instead of scales. (TtXarvc,, flat; ixbvs, iish.) 



3023. PLATICHTHYS STELLATIS (Pallas). 



(GREAT FLOUNDER.) 



Head 3| ; depth 2. D. 58; A. 42. Vertebra- 34. Body broad and short, 

 the snout forming a slight angle with the profile; lower jaw projecting; 

 interociilar space rather broad, with very rough scales; large rough scales 

 at base of dorsal and anal rays and on sides of head; similar but smaller 

 scales scattered over the body; lateral line smooth; fins without scales; 

 a cluster of bony prominences above opercle. Teeth incisor-like, trun- 

 cate, rather broad, j^y^. Lower pharyngeals broad, with coarse paved 

 teeth. Dark brown or nearly black, with lighter markings; fins reddish 

 brown; dorsal and anal with 4 or 5 vertical black bauds; caudal with 

 3 or 4 black longitudinal bands. Pacific coast of America, from Point Con- 

 cepcioii to the Arctic Ocean and south to the Amur River. This is one of 

 the largest of the American flounders, reaching a weight of 15 to 20 

 pounds. Of the small-mouthed flounders it is much the largest species 

 known. It is an excellent food-fish, and from its size and abundance it is 

 one of the most important of the group in the region where it is found, con- 

 stituting half the total catch of flounders on our Pacific coast, and it is 

 equally abundant in Bering Sea. It lives in shallow water and sometimes 

 ascends the larger rivers. It is one of the most widely distributed of all 

 the flounders, its range extending from San Luis Obispo, where it was 

 obtained by Jordan & Gilbert, to the mouth of the Anderson and Colville 

 rivers on the Arctic coast, where it was observed by Dr. Bean, and to 

 Port Clarence, where Mr. Scofield obtained specimens. We have also 

 specimens from Petropaulski, Bering, Medni, and Robben islands and 

 from Bristol Bay. A specimen from the island of Saghalieu in Asia is in 

 the museum at Cambridge, (stellatus, starry.) 



Pleuronectes etettatus, PALLAS, Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, in, 416, 1811, Kamchatka, 

 Aleutian and Kuril Islands; GUNTHER, Cat., IV, 443, 1862; STEINDACHNER, Pleur. von 

 Decastris Bay, 1870, 1 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 453 ; JORDAN fc 

 GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 68; BEAN, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 420; JOR- 

 DAN <fe GILBERT, Synopsis 835, 1883 ; BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 353 ; BEAN. 

 Cat. Coll. Fish.U. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 20; JORDAN, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 184, pi. 46, 

 1884. 



Platichthys rugosut, GlRARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 139, 155, San Francisco; 

 Presidio; Petaluma ; GlRARD, TJ. S. Pac. R. R. Surv., X, Fishes, 148, 1858. 



Platessa stellata, DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna: Fishes, 301, 1842; STOKER, Synopsis, 478, 1846. 



Platichtttys stellatus, LOCKINGTON, Rep. Com. Fish. Cal. 1878-79, 43; LOCKINGTON, Proc. 

 TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 91 ; JORDAN & Goss, Review Flounders and Soles, 296, 1889. 



