294 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



GENUS HIPPOGLOSSUS. Cuvier. 



Body elongated. Eyes and color 07i the right side. Jaius and pharynx armed with strong 

 and sharp teeth. 



THE HALIBUT. 



HiPPOGLOSSUS VULGARIS. 



PLATE XLIX. FIG. Io7. 



Pleuronectes hippoghssus. L:NNEns, p. 45P. 

 H. id., Halilml. MiTCHiLL, Lit. and Phil. Soc. "Vol. 1, p. 396. 

 Hippoglossus vulgaris. CuviER. 

 The Halibut. Storek, Massachusetts Report, p. 145. 



Characteristics. Very large. Uniform dark ashen grey on the upper side ; white beneath. 

 Caudal fin concave. Length one to eight feet. 



Description. Body elongated ; breadth to the length as one to two and a half nearly ; 

 smooth, covered with minute oval scales. The lateral line arched over the pectorals. Length 

 of the head to the total length as one to four. Eyes moderate, dextral. Nostrils double, 

 slightly in advance of the eyes ; the anterior tubular. Gape of the mouth large. Lower jaw 

 longer than the upper, and both with large fleshy lips. Teeth in a double row in both jaws, 

 robust, distant, acute ; the posterior range somewhat larger. Branchial rays seven. 



The dorsal fin commences above the eye, and ends near the caudal ; its middle rays longest. 

 Pectorals oblong, arising below the medial line of the body. Ventrals beneath the base of the 

 pectorals ; very small, with its third ray longest. The first rays of the anal fin shortest, gra- 

 dually increasing in length to the seventh or eighth ray ; thence gradually diminishing and 

 coterminal with the dorsal. Vent with a separate urinary passage behind. Caudal fin cres- 

 cent-shaped. 



Color. Head, body and fins of the right side an ashen gre}% more or less darker ; the left 

 side white, immaculate. Pupils black ; irides golden. 



Length of head and body, 24 "0. Breadth of body, 9 "5. 

 Fin rays, D. 100 ; P. 16 ; V. 6 ; A. 74 ; C. 17 |. 



The individual described above is small. They are usually of a more considerable size. I 

 have seen them of the weight of two hundred pounds, and Dr. Storer informs us of one which 

 reached the enormous weight of six hundred pounds. It is a savory fish, particularly the 

 smaller individuals, and occasionally appears in unusually large numbers on the coast. Its 

 capture on the shoals of Nantucket at one time afforded employment to eighty vessels of from 

 sixty to eighty tons each. They are very voracious ; swimming near the ground, and devour- 

 ing other Planidae, as well as shells and Crustacea. It occurs on both shores of the Atlantic, 

 inhabiting the northern seas, and migrating south on the approach of spring, as far as the 



