338 
Fishery Bulletin 108(3) 
Recent captures of these species — C. cornutus from 
off Hudson Canyon (Fahay, 2007) and the shelf off New 
York (Steves et al., 1999) and C. gymnorhinus from off 
North Carolina (Quattrini and Ross, 2006; this study) 
in areas north of their perceived adult geographic rang- 
es — could have been misinterpreted as evidence for ex- 
panding geographic distributions (i.e. , poleward range 
extensions) in response to global warming because 
some marine fishes respond to oceanic warming with 
shifts in their latitudinal range (for further discussion 
on this topic in relation to marine fishes see Perry 
et ah, 2005; Nye et al., 2009). However, adult speci- 
mens captured nearly a century or more ago, as well as 
historical literature documenting occurrences of both 
adults and larvae of these species in these northern lo- 
cations, prove that these species were present in these 
areas historically. Similarly, purported new records of 
reef fishes off North Carolina were probably mistak- 
enly attributed to ocean warming (Parker and Dixon, 
1998), when in fact many of those species were already 
known from the area (see comments in Quattrini and 
Ross, 2006). These examples clearly indicate a need for 
more careful research and the need for examination of 
historical data (published and unpublished) before in- 
voking climate-change hypotheses to explain observed 
distributional patterns of marine organisms, especially 
for species that are less well known. Available data in- 
dicate only sporadic and infrequent occurrence of adult 
C. cornutus on the continental shelf north of North 
Carolina, and no records exist of adult C. gymnorhinus 
from north of North Carolina. Changes in the distribu- 
tions of these diminutive flatfishes on the northwest 
Atlantic shelf in response to climatic factors may be 
signaled by northward extension in their geographic 
ranges, by increases in frequency of capture and preva- 
lence within northern portions of their ranges, or by 
increases in their biomass in deeper areas within their 
ranges, as has been observed for other North Atlantic 
fish species (Dulvy et al., 2008; Nye et al., 2009). The 
updated baseline information contained herein on the 
frequencies of occurrences, relative abundances, and 
detailed examination of bathymetric and geographic 
ranges of both flatfish species provides the basis for 
comparison with future evaluations of the responses of 
these species to changes occurring on the continental 
shelf of the western North Atlantic Ocean. 
Several factors likely contributed to inaccuracies 
in geographic distributions for these species appear- 
ing in recently published literature. Given that these 
flatfishes are not usually taken in abundance, nor are 
they commercially important, significant captures 
could be overlooked in studies of fish communities 
or commercial fisheries. Important distributional in- 
formation for both species also have escaped notice 
because incidental captures of these diminutive flat- 
fishes were often buried in tables or appendices and 
the significance of these records was not emphasized 
in the works documenting these captures. Confusion 
in identifying these species also occurs (e.g., Goode 
and Bean, 1895; Hildebrand, 1941) and misidentifica- 
tions in the literature and in museum collections and 
databases have contributed to oversights of important 
specimens. Furthermore, studies in which the ecol- 
ogy or distribution of these species was summarized 
(Gutherz, 1967; Robins and Ray, 1986; Munroe, 2003; 
McEachran and Fechhelm, 2005; Lyczkowski-Shultz 
and Bond, 2006; and others) did not contain earlier 
published records. Unfortunately, the incomplete, and 
sometimes inaccurate, information contained in these 
synthetic studies has subsequently been perpetuated in 
other publications. As biology and ecology disciplines 
increase the use and reliance on web-based and web- 
available references, historically important, but less 
available, less popular, or more obscure literature will 
be increasingly overlooked. We caution that sole reli- 
ance on popular citation sources for historical informa- 
tion, in many cases, is a poor substitute for first-hand 
examination of all of the pertinent original literature 
related to a subject. Additionally, regardless of what 
popularly cited literature sources report, or even what 
museum databases indicate on their websites, these 
are no substitutes for actually examining specimens 
and analyzing collection data associated with them. 
In our study, nine different references noted the occur- 
rence of C. cornutus on the continental shelf south of 
Rhode Island or off New Jersey and New York, yet all 
of these publications were disregarded in all but one 
contemporary literature source for this species. 
Moreover, museum specimens represent important 
archived sources of geographic and bathymetric infor- 
mation. Museum lots of both C. cornutus and C. gymno- 
rhinus collected over 100 and 92 years ago, respectively, 
voucher occurrences of adults of these species from the 
northernmost regions of their geographic ranges. These 
specimens, too, were overlooked by the same popularly 
cited studies mentioned above. 
Accurate records of geographic occurrence and bathy- 
metric distribution for species such as these two di- 
minutive flatfishes are necessary and important because 
they provide the background information required to 
evaluate future changes in their distributions or oc- 
currences in relation to large-scale changes in oceanic 
conditions on the continental shelf of the western North 
Atlantic. Changes in distributions of organisms are rel- 
evant for assessments of effects of climate change, and 
more information is needed on the regional dynamics 
of populations over time to better understand effects 
of various environmental conditions on their survival 
and persistence within an area (Nye et al., 2009; Tolan 
and Fisher, 2009; Wood et al., 2009). Changes in the 
spatiotemporal occurrences of small-size, noncommer- 
cial species often are overlooked or disregarded (Link, 
2007). But changes in geographic and bathymetric dis- 
tributions and relative abundances for such species 
may provide additional evidence of larger-scale envi- 
ronmental changes impacting biological communities 
that inhabit the continental shelf off the eastern United 
States and elsewhere. Without proper understanding of 
historical data describing distributional patterns, it will 
be impossible to accurately document any changes that 
