HALIBUT, FLAT-FISH AND FLOUNDER. 225 
It would seem probable that its chosen haunts are along the declivities 
of the outer slope of the continental plateau, where abundance of food is 
known to occur, and where other fishes are not so well adapted to live. 
Many hundreds of pounds are caught, every year, on the halibut trawls, 
and the fish are frequently iced and brought to market with the Halibut, 
and frequently eaten by the fishermen themselves. The greater portion of 
those brought to New York in winter are, however, taken on trawl lines at 
the mouth of Fortune Bay, and brought down by the vessels which go there 
to secure cargoes of frozen herring. _It is impossible to obtain statistics 
of the quantities thus brought in, because the market returns do not dis- 
criminate between the different species of flounders and flat fishes. 
The Greenland Turbot is an exceedingly palatable fish, its flesh being 
firm, white, and less dry and more delicate in flavor than that of the Hal- 
ibut. The average weight is from ten to twenty-five pounds. In Greenland 
they are perhaps more highly esteemed than any other fish. The Green- 
landers begin fishing as soon as the fiords are frozen and the white whales, 
which prey greedily upon this fish, have left the entrances open. They 
fish through holes in the ice, and attach little threads at intervals to lines, 
so that they may better see the motion which the nibbling fish makes. 
Under favorable circumstances a man may take ten to eighteen of these 
. fishes daily. The fishery continues from January to the middle of March, 
sometimes, however, only a week or two, and usually only about a month. 
The fish are cut into strips and dried for the consumption of the Danish 
colonists. It it said that a very fine oil can be made out of their fat, so 
that in hard times the fish serves to warm and light the houses as well as 
feed their occupants. In South Greenland they are not so numerous, but 
are constantly sought for, being taken in company with the sea perch, or 
red fish. 
Glyptocephalus cynoglossus, a fish often known as the Deep-sea 
Flounder, was first observed on this coast in 1877, when numerous speci- 
mens were obtained by the United States Fish Commission, in the deep- 
est part of Massachusetts Bay. Specimens have since been obtained south 
of Cape Cod, at a depth of one hundred fathoms or more, by the Fish 
Commission, and by Prof. Agassiz, off the entrance to Delaware Bay, 
at a depth of three hundred and ninety-five fathoms. The Pole Flounder 
appears to be a permanent resident, throughout the whole year, in the deep 
basins of Massachusetts Bay and on the edge of the continental slope, and 
