THE PLAICE : FISHERIES. 1 8 1 



well of his smack and tried to sell, but was unsuccessful, though they were offered under the name 

 of Turbot, local prejudice being against them. In 1879 there were seven or eight boats engaged in 

 the plaice fishery during the month of June, this month being the best for plaice fishing. In the 

 latter part of July, when I made my observations, all of the winter boats had quitted for the year. 



The method in use here is somewhat peculiar, and merits descri|(tion. The fishermen call it 

 "drailing for Plaice." The boat used is an ordinary cat-boat, managed by one persou, and is 

 allowed to drift with free sheet before the wind, while .the fisherman stands in the stern dragging 

 the line over the bottom, baited with a bit of squid or clam. The boat is kept as nearly as possible 

 over the places where the flats are deepening most abruptly into the basin of the harbor, and where 

 the water is from eight to eighteen fathoms deep. Only very large fish, weighing ten, fifteen, some- 

 times even twenty pounds, are taken in this manner. The average catch is from eight to twenty 

 a day. In one day one man reported eight, one fourteen, 'one twenty-three. Some of these fish are 

 sold in Provincetown, but the greater portion is sent iced to New York, where a price of twelve 

 cents a ])ound, wholesale, is easily obtained. In Boston there is no market for them. 



On the coast of New Jersey Professor Baird states that in 18.'54 they were taken in large 

 numbers, by means of nets, in the deep slues along the beach. Aloug the southern coast they 

 are occasionally taken by the line fishermen, and a considerable quantity is seined by the river 

 fishermen. In the Gulf of Mexico they are rarely taken by hook and line, and are usually 

 speared or jigged at night, by torchlight. , 



The Plaice has always been the most popular of our In-shore flat fishes, being exempt in a 

 certain degree from the prejudice attaching to '■the fishes of this family. It seems to have been a 

 common food-fish in South Cafdlina as early as 1760, and Schoepf mentions it as one of the food- 

 fishes of New York in 1776. In 1856, according to Gill, it was found in the New York market io 

 autumn, but seems to have been less in favor than the Flat Fish. At present the Plaice is grow- 

 ing in favor in New York, and is upon the lists of all good restaurants, though perhaps not so 

 generally consumed as the Flat Fish, which comes iu the winter, when the market is less lavishly 

 supplied. 



In Boston, and indeed throughout the greater part of New England, this, with all other 

 Flounders, is considered unfit to eat, and it is by no means generally popular along the Southern 

 coast, though in Florida its flesh is highly prized. The Connecticut fishermen esteem it greatly, 

 and when preparing it for their own use are accustomed to hang it in the open air for a day or 

 two "to dr5'," as they say. The wholesale price in New York varies from one and a half to six 

 cents, but is usually three cents a pound. 



Another species of Flounder, closely related to the Plaice, is the common Four-spotted Flounder, 

 Paralichthys oblongus, which occasionally finds its way to market in company with the Plaice, and 

 is doubtless sold under the same name. It is a small species, rarely attaining a greater length than 

 twelve inches and a weight of one pound. It may be readily distinguished by the presence upon 

 the back of four large, dark spots, elliptical in form, but these sooH fade out after death. 



Its distribution is much mor.e restricted than that of the Plaice; it is most abundant, at a 

 depth of ten to forty fathoms, off the southern coast of New England ; it rarely occurs north of Cape 

 Cod, though one individual was taken by the Fish Commission at the mouth of Salem Harbor, nor 

 has it been recorded south of New York. There are two smaller si)Pcies upon the Southern coast — 

 one, Paralichthys quadrocellatus, broader than Paralichthys oblongiis, 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 western record of limit is Pensacola. Stearns 

 records it as common from Cedar Keys south to Kej' West, and pronounces it an excellent fooil-flsh. 



