HALIBUT, FLAT-FISH AND FLOUNDER. 32t 
individual was taken by the Fish Commission at the mouth of Salem Har- 
bor, nor has it been recorded south of New York. There are two smaller 
species upon the Southern coast—one, Paralichthys quadrocellatus, 
broader than Paralichthys oblongus, also marked with four dorsal spots, 
and known in the South as the Four-spotted Flounder. This species has 
been observed as far north as Charleston and Fort Macon, while its west- 
ern record of limit is Pensacola. Stearns records it as common from 
Cedar Keys south to Key West, and pronounces it an excellent food-fish. 
It cannot at present, however, be considered very important. The other 
species, Paralichthys stigmatias, occurs in deep water (seventy-five fathoms) 
off the coast of South Carolina, and may be distinguished by the presence 
of three conspicuous spots upon the upper side of the body. 
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THE FLAT FISH. 
Next in importance to the Plaice, comes the Flat Fish, Pseudopleuro- 
nectes americanus, or Common Flounder, sometimes called the ‘* Winter 
Flounder,’’ said to be known in Massachusetts Bay as the ‘‘Mud-dab”’ 
and in New York as the ‘‘Flounder.’’ New York anglers call it the 
‘‘Nigger Fish.’’ This fish, like the Plaice, belongs to a genus unknown 
to Europe, but is closely related to the common Flounder, or Fluke, of the 
British coast. Its range is somewhat extensive, and in a certain degree it 
replaces the Plaice along our northern coast. It has not been observed 
south of Chesapeake Bay, but northward its range extends to the Bay of 
Fundy, to the eastern shores of Nova Scotia, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
and even to the coast of Labrador. 
21 é 
