HALIBUT, FLAT-FISH AND HLOUNDER. 323 
later, writing in 1818, he states that small numbers were found in the 
stalls in January and February, taken with spears while searching for eels. 
These were not very inviting, owing to their mangled appearance and 
frozen state, but, with the disappearance of ice and the approach of spring, 
their numbers increased, and in March the stalls were well filled with them, 
cheap and fresh and good. They were only used as pan-fish. Gill wrote, 
in 1856: ‘*This is the most common species of flounder that is brought 
to the city markets in the winter and spring months; it is seldom sold at 
a higher price than eight to ten cents per pound. Flounders are chiefly : 
sold by the weight; occasionally they are strung through the branchial 
apertures on twigs and nominally sold by the bunch.’’ 
The Smooth Flounder, or Christmas Flounder, Pleuronectes glaber, is 
very similar in habits and appearance to the Flat Fish, and is still closer 
to the Flounder of Europe, being a member of the same genus. It may 
be distinguished from the former by its smooth skin, which has given to 
the species, in some localities, the name ‘‘ Eel-back.’’ Its distribution is 
extremely limited, it having been recorded as only found in Salem, Massa- 
chusetts, Portland and Belfast, Maine, or within the limits of two degrees 
of latitude. Its range may in the future be extended farther to the north, 
but it is certain that at present none occur south of Salem. In Casco Bay 
they are very abundant in summer, and the Fish Commission secured great 
quantities of them in water three or four fathoms deep in Bluelight Cove. 
They have never elsewhere been observed, except in winter, about Christ- 
mas time, when they come into the harbors to spawn. At Salem they are, 
on this account, called the Christmas Fish. Considerable quantities are 
caught every year by spearing them upon the sand. At this place they 
are also called ‘‘ Fool Fish,’’ because, in their anxiety for food, they will 
bite at any kind of bait, even at a rag. The spawning season is short, and 
they soon retire into deeper water. At Portland, and in the vicinity, con- 
siderable numbers are taken in the winter fishery in company with the Flat 
Fish, and with them are sent to New York and neighboring markets. In 
one instance a quantity were offered for sale in the markets of Washington. 
The spawning season on the coast of Maine is slightly earlier than that 
of Massachusetts, beginning as early as the middle of December, while in 
Penobscot Bay they are taken at the very beginning of the month, full of 
spawn. In Penobscot Bay they are taken in traps, or ‘‘fliers,’’ as the 
fishermen call them, shaped something like lobster-traps and baited. The 
