SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 301 



FLOUNDERS WITH SPINULATED SCALES. 

 By Jas. Johnstone. 



While trawling in Luce Bay during November, 1904, 

 several unusually large flounders (Pleuronectes flesus), 14 

 to 16J inches in length, were captured, and on handling 

 these it was seen that all were scaled in an abnormal 

 manner, the greater part of the head being covered with 

 spinulated scales. Flounders on the N.W. Coast of England 

 do not present this peculiarity to a noteworthy extent, but 

 it is nearly always the case that there are single rows of 

 spinulated scales along the bases of the dorsal and anal 

 fins, and that several rows of these structures are to be 

 found at the beginning of the lateral line on both ocular 

 and blind sides, but principally on the former. These 

 peculiar scales are not generally very obvious in our 

 English flounders,* but are much more common in fish 

 from the Scandinavian Coasts. 



The fish referred to here (See fig. 11) is a male, 15 

 inches in total length. It was unusually darkly pig- 

 mented. There were 62 rays in the dorsal, and 44 in the 

 anal fin. Along the bases of both dorsal and anal fins on 

 the ocular side are rows of spinulated scales, but these are 

 much less in number than the adjacent fin rays. The 

 greater part of the head on the ocular side bears these 

 scales, and there are patches round the insertion of the 

 pectoral fins and on the skin in front of the insertions of 

 the pelvics. The greatest development of these structures 

 is along the lateral line of the ocular side. At the 

 beginning of the latter are several rows of spinulated 



* See Holt, M. B. A. Journ., Vol. 3, p. 197, 1893—5. 



