F LOU N D E R - F I S H E 8 . 
417 
THE LESSER HALIBUT (s\v. lilla helgeflundiian). 
PLATYSOMATICHTHYS III PPOGLOSSOIDES. 
Fig. 112. 
Greatest depth of the body in young specimens {about 18 cm. long) about 25 % of the length of the body, and in 
older specimens (at least 40 — 75 cm. long) about 26 — 28 V 2 %“ thereof: greatest thickness of the body about 81 % 
of the depth. Least depth . of the tail about 29 % of the greatest depth of the body. Lateral line evenly sloping 
in the abdominal region. Length of the lower jaw more than half that of the head. Hind extremity of the upper 
jaw-bone extending in young specimens only to a line with the posterior part, of the lower eye , but in old speci- 
mens beyond the perpendicular from the hind margin of this eye. The greatest depth both of the dorsal and anal 
fins almost coincides with, the middle of the length of the body , including the caudal fin. Distance between the 
dorsal fin and, the tip of the snout greater than the length of the pectoral fins, than * 1 / 10 of the length of the body 1 ', 
than 1 / 3 of the greatest depth of the body e , than 2 / s of the length of the head' 1 , or than 2 / 3 of the length of the 
head behind the eyes'. Length of the base of the dorsal fin only about 67 — 68 1 j 2 % of the length of the body. 
Colored, ion of both sides yellowish brown f , paler on the blind side than on the eye side. 
R. br. 7; D. 94—96?; A. 71—76; F. 2 + 12 /( ; V. 6; 
C. tv + 15 + ,v; L. Icit. por. perfor. 105 (+ 20 in pinn. caud.). 
Syn. Et ugemeent Slags af Helleflyndrer, Leem, Beshr. Finm. Lapp., 
p. 31 5 
Pleuronectes cynoglossus, Fabr., Fn. Groenl. , p. 163; Rink, 
Gronl., vol. I, p. 145. 
Pleuronectes Hippoglossoid.es, Walb., Art. Gen. Pise., p. 115; 
Gill ( Beinhardtius ), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Pliilad. 1861, App., 
p. 50; 1864, p. 218; Br. G. et Bean ( Platysomatichthys ), 
Bull. Ess. Inst., vol. XI, p. 7 ; Coll., Norsk. Nordh. Exped., 
Zool., Fiske, p. 142; Joed., Gilb., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 
No. 16, p. 819; Coll., N. Mag. Naturv. Clirist., Bd 29, 
p. 98; Lillj. ( Hippoglossus ), Sv., Norg. Fn., Fisk., vol. 2, 
p. 295; Collins ( Platysomatichthys ), Bull. U. S. Fish. Comm., 
vol. V (1885), p. 256. 
Pleuronectes pinguis, Fabr., Dansk. Vid. Selsk. Naturv., Math. 
Afh., vol. I (1824), p. 45; Reinh. ( Hippoglossus ), ibid., 
vol. VII, p. 116; Kr., Voy. Scand., cett. (Gaim.), tab. 22; 
Blkr ( Platysomatichthys ), Versl., Mededeel. Akad. Weten., 
Afd. Naturk., 1862, p. 426; Steenstr., Overs. D. Vid. Selsk. 
Forh. 1863, p. 186; Esm. ( Hippoglossus ), Fork. Skand. 
Naturf. M. Christ., 1868, p. 526; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. 
Christ. 1874, Tilliegsli., p. 135; ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 74; 
Ltkn, Fish. Groenl., Arct. Man. 1875 (Comm. Roy. Soc.), 
p. 120. 
Hippoglossus groenlandicus. Gthr, Brit. Mus. Cat., Fish., vol. 
IV, p. 404. 
The Lesser Halibut has been known within the 
limits of the Scandinavian fauna for more than a cen- 
tury 7 (since 17(17), but it is still one of the rarities in 
our museums. It is also a deep-sea fish for which no 
special fishery is carried on in Scandinavia, though in 
recent years it has been caught so often on the coast 
of Norwegian Finmark, that Collett declares that in 
those parts it “is not particularly rare. It is far more 
common on the coast of Greenland, where it has been 
for many years the object of an important fishery. It 
never attains so large a size as the preceding species: 
according to Fabricius its length on the coast of Green- 
land scarcely exceeds 26 3 / 4 in. (68 cm.). The largest 
specimen Collett ever saw, was caught off Vardo, and 
measured 92 cm. in length. Collins, who (1. c.) has 
published Captain Johnson’s notes of a fishing-voyage 
in 1885 to the edges of the deep-water pocket on the 
eastern side of the Grand Banks (44° 3' N. lat.), states 
“ According to Lilljeborg about 31. 
b About 1 1 1 / ., — 1 0 1 /. 2 % thereof, according to the specimens before us. 
0 About 44 1 /., — 36V 2 / thereof. 
d About 46 Y 2 — 42 % thereof. 
e About 83 — 68 % thereof. 
f According to Fabricius (Fn. Groenl .) brownish gray ( fuscocinereus ) or (1824, 1. c.) light gray. 
? D. 92 — 102, according to Collett. 
h P. 14—15, according to Collett. 
1 “Juxta insuiam Bug-0en , in Finmarcbia orientali, Passeres occurrunt. in eo a ceteris sui generis discrepantes, quod non per dorsum 
dumtaxat, sed etiam sub ventre, adeoque toti, nigri sint, et tarn pinguedine, quam sapore illis multum prsestent.’’ 
J Nearer 200 years, according to Collett, who gives a reference to “Lillienskiold’s great work Speculum boreale, published in 1698,” 
where the same remark is said to occur as- that just quoted from Leem. The work is unknown to us. 
53 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
