FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
175 
the eyes and color on the reverse side, were it not for the fact that when so considered there is 
still no species known in that genus with which the specimen in hand may be identified. No other 
course seems open to us, therefore, than to set up a new genus and species, a matter that is nearly 
always highly unsatisfactory when only a single specimen happens to be at hand. 
Chesapeake localities . — Off Smiths Point, Ya., somewhat below the mouth of the Potomac 
River, taken by the Fish Hawk in an 8-foot beam trawl at a depth of 25 fathoms on February 21, 
1914. 
Family XL. — ACHIRIDjE. The broad soles 
Bodj' oblong or ovate; eyes and color dextral (i. e., on the right side); eyes moderate or small, 
separated by a distinct bony ridge, upper eye usually more or less in advance of lower; mouth small, 
more or less twisted toward the blind side; teeth little developed, in villiform bands if present; 
edge of preopercle adnate, usually concealed by scales; gill openings more or less narrowed; gill 
membranes adnate to shoulder girdle above; scales usually ctenoid, rarely wanting; blind side of 
head usually with fringes; lateral line single, straight; caudal fin free from the dorsal and anal; 
right ventral on the ridge of the abdomen and continuous with the anal fin; one or both pectorals 
often absent. 
64. Genus ACHIRUS Lacepede. Hog chokers; American soles 
Body ovate, bluntly rounded anteriorly; head small; eyes small, separated by a bony ridge; 
mouth small, somewhat turned toward the colored side; gill openings narrow, not confluent below; 
teeth minute or wanting; color and eyes on the right side; scales very strongly ctenoid, similar on 
both sides; lateral line simple, nearly straight; origin of dorsal over snout; anal spine wanting; 
caudal fin free, the peduncle very short; ventral fins both present, the one of colored side often 
nearly continuous with the anal; pectoral fin of blind side wanting, the one on eyed side small or 
obsolete. 
84. Achirus fasciatus Lacepede. Hog choker; Sole. 
Achirus fasciatus LacGpede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IV, 1803, pp. 659, 662; Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2700, PI. 
CCCLXXXVII, fig. 948; Smith and Bean, 1899, p. 187; Evermann and Hildebrand, 1910, p. 163; Fowler, 1923, p. 14. 
Achirus lincatus Uhler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. 93; ed. II, p. 78; Bean, 1883, p. 365; Bean, 1891, p. 84. 
Head 3.45 to 4; depth 1.6 to 1.95; D. 50 to 56; A. 36 to 42; scales 66 to 75. Body broad; dorsal 
and ventral outlines about evenly convex; head short; snout blunt, 2.85 to 3.7 in head; eye small, 
5.2 to 7.5; interorbital never broader than eye, notably narrower than eye in young; mouth rather 
small, terminal; the jaws considerably curved; maxillary reaching under lower eye, 2.5 to 2.9 in 
head; teeth in the jaws in villiform bands, present only on blind side; lateral line indicated by a 
narrow stripe, but without pores; scales small, strongly serrate on both sides of fish; blind side of 
head with numerous tentacles, extending backward and somewhat on the dorsal and anal fins; 
origin of dorsal over snout; caudal fin round, separate from dorsal and anal; origin of anal under 
margin of opercle; ventral fins moderately developed, the one of the eyed side on ridge of abdomen, 
somewhat continuous with anal fin; pectoral fins wanting. 
Color of eyed side brownish to dusky; some specimens much darker than others; usually with 
about seven or eight black vertical lines; sometimes much mottled with pale markings, these marks 
occasionally suggesting reticulations; blind side sometimes plain white, more usually with more 
or less brownish pigment and variously spotted with black, the spots varying in size from very 
small to larger than the eye, sometimes covering the entire side, sometimes present only posteriorly; 
fins with pale and dark streaks or spots. 
Numerous specimens of this common sole, ranging from 38 to 202 millimeters (1F£ to 8 inches) 
in length, are in the Chesapeake collection. The young appear to be somewhat more elongate 
than the adults, but in other respects they are similar. The hog choker is at once distinguished 
from all other flat fishes of Chesapeake Bay by the deep, round body, the fringed scales on the 
blind side of the head, and, when present, by the black crossbars extending across the body. Both 
species of soles known from Chesapeake Bay have no pectoral fins and, unlike in the flounders, 
the upper instead of the lower jaw is the longer. 
