722 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



head; gape curved; scales weakly ctenoid or cj^cloid; gill rakers 

 thick, rather long, few, about eight below angle; dorsal low, 

 beginning over front of eye, some of the anterior rays exserted, 

 but no.t elongate, the longest rays behind middle of fin, not quite 

 half head; caudal one and one fourth in head; pectoral one and 

 three fifths; anal spine obsolete. D. 72; A. 60; Lat. 1. 93. (D. 

 79; A. 59, according to Mitchill; D. 86; A. 76, according to Storer). 



Grayish, thickly mottled with darker and somewhat translu- 

 cent; four large, horizontal oblong, black ocelli, each surrounded 

 by a pinkish area, one just behind middle of body below the dor- 

 sal, one opposite this above anal; two similar smaller spots below 

 last rays of dorsal and above last of anal. Atlantic coast, north- 

 ward; not abundant. 



The fourspotted flounder inhabits the coast of New England 

 and New York. It is very common on the coast of New York 

 and th^ neighboring islands. Mitchill described the fish in 1815. 

 It grows to the length of about 14, inches. Its common name 

 relates to the four large horizontal oblong black ocelli. At 

 Woods Hole Mass., according to Dr Smith, it is common in May 

 and June, scarce at other times. It is most abundant about 

 June, during the run of scup. 



Young fish are rarely observed, but in the fall of 1885 and 1886 

 large numbers, two or three inches long, were seen. The aver- 

 age length of adults there is 12 inches. The 'fish spawns in May, 

 and its eggs have been experimentally hatched at Woods Hole. 

 They are buoyant, -^e of an inch in diameter and hatch in eight 

 days in water having a mean temperature of 51° to 56° F. In 

 1877 a single example was taken at the mouth of Salem harbor 

 by the U. S. Fish Commission. 



Genus lophopsktta Gill 

 Eyes and color on the left side; body broadly ovate, strongly 

 compressed, pellucid; mouth large, oblique, the maxillary reach- 

 ing to beyond eye; teeth subequal, in narrow bands, or in single 

 series; a small patch of teeth on the vomer; scales small, cycloid, 

 imbricate, the skin without bony tubercles; lateral line strongly 

 arched in front, without accessory branch; dorsal fin beginning 



