PART IV.-ON A COLLECTION OF INDIAN 

 PLEURONECTIDAE, 



By J. T. JKNKINS, D.Sc. (Wales), Superintendent, Lancashire and Western Sea 

 Fisheries. 



This collection was for the most part obtained by the Bengal Government's 

 steam trawler the ''Golden Crown" in the Bay of Bengal during 1908-09. A few 

 specimens from the Trivandrum Museum, from the Indian Marine Survey collection, 

 and several collected by Dr. Annandale on Puri beach are also included. Most of the 

 species figured in the accompanying plate (pi. iii) have been described in the Records of 

 the Indian Museum, vol. v, pp. 123 — 140 (19 10). 



So far as the observations of the ''Golden Crown" extended it would appear 

 that the Pleuronectidae are not so abundant in the Bay of Bengal between to and 35 

 fathoms as they are on similar ground in British waters. The genus Pleur onectes^ 

 which is frequently taken in enormous quantities in the seas of Northern Europe, and 

 is a valuable commercial fish, is entirely absent in the Bay, and its place is apparently 

 taken by the genera Pseudorhombus and Psettodes. At any rate these genera are 

 found in localities which would in England be inhabited by Pleuronectes. The habitat 

 of the two common species of Pseudorhombus , P. arsius and P. javanicus, is similar 

 to that of the Dab (Pleuronectes limanda), while Psettodes erumei may be taken to be 

 the representative of the Flounder (Pleuronectes flesus) in Indian waters. 



Of the "soles," the genera Cynoglossus and Synaptura are characteristic of 

 depths between 10 and 35 fathoms, while Plagusia, which was rarely taken on the 

 "Golden Crown," would appear to frequent shallower areas since it is commonly 

 taken by the beach fishermen at Puri. The commonest sole in the Bay is Cynoglos- 

 sus macrolepidotus , and this species formed the bulk of the commercial "sole" of the 

 "Golden Crown." So far as the limited observations in the Sunderbuns extended, it 

 seems that Cynoglossus extends well into the estuaries, at any rate specimens were 

 captured at Morrelganj and Kan Rondighee. At the latter place the salinity is very 

 slight, the reading with the Kiel araeometer being 1-0090. 



PLEURONECTIDAE. 

 Psettodes, Bennett. 

 Psettodes erumei, Bloch and Schneid. 

 Numerous specimens of this species were obtained by the "Golden Crown." It 

 is especially abundant on the muddy grounds off the entrance to the Eastern Chan- 

 nel (mouth of the HughH). 



