FOURTEEN TELEOSTEAN FISHES AT BEAUFORT, N. C. 
475 
limited collecting in such waters. It is quite certain that the larger young ranging 
from about 15 to 100 millimeters or so in length, are scarce in those areas where the 
smaller ones are obtainable in considerable numbers and that they must be sought 
elsewhere. In the light of our present limited information, it seems probable that the 
larger young may live principally in the brackish and fresh water creeks and ditches. 
The distribution of the young over time and season has been shown in part 
under the head “Spawning” (p. 469). Small fry, ranging from about 2 to 4 milli- 
meters in length were taken from September to May but were numerous only during 
November and December. Somewhat larger fish, 5 to 14 millimeters long, were 
common in the collections from November to March. Larger young, ranging from 
15 to 25 millimeters in length are comparatively scarce and were taken only in 
February and March. Still larger ones, ranging upward to about 125 millimeters 
are sparingly represented and fish coming within this range were taken only in April, 
May, and June. 
Adult Paralichthys, of course, live almost wholly on the bottom. It is evident 
from the present investigation that the fry also inhabit the bottom, for in an approxi- 
mately equal number of hauls made with two 1 -meter townets, hauled simultane- 
ously at the surface and on the bottom, the larvie were present in 119 bottom and in 
only 10 surface collections. Since the eggs have not been taken, it is not known, 
of course, whether they are of the demersal or the pelagic type. It is quite certain, 
however, that if the eggs hatch at the surface the young go to the bottom very 
quickly. The rather constant presence on the bottom of recently hatched fry (only 
2 to 3 millimeters long, with deflexed heads) and their almost total absence at the 
surface, suggests that the eggs may be demersal. 
It is evident from the foregoing discussion relative to the distribution of the young 
that spawning very probably takes place exclusively at sea from September to April 
or May, but principally in November and December. It is indicated, furthermore, 
that the young move shoreward and into the inside waters at an early age and that 
at a somewhat later age, still, they enter brackish and fresh water. It is shown, 
also, that the fry, like the older and the adult fish, five almost exclusively on the 
bottom. 
GROWTH 
Insufficient specimens of the proper sizes have been obtained to show the rate 
of growth, and this part of the fife history must remain unsolved until the habitat of 
the young fish, ranging from about 25 to 125 millimeters in length, is more definitely 
located and a much larger number of specimens is collected. 
Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928, p. 166) working with fish from Chesapeake 
Bay, where P. dentatus alone is represented, state that their specimens indicate a 
length of 120 to 180 millimeters (4.7 to 7.1 inches) at one year of age, a length of 
200 to 250 millimeters (7.9 to 10.2 inches) when 1% years old, and around 270 to 280 
millimeters (10.6 to 11 inches) when 2 years old. However, these authors had limited 
data and their results are not conclusive. 
The age of these flounders at sexual maturity, of course, can not be given as 
their rate of growth is not well enough known. The individuals with large roe that 
have been observed, invariably, were large ones and ranged in length from 16% to 
29 inches. It seems probable that sexual maturity is not reached at an early age if 
it be true that the fish first must attain a length of about 16 inches, for our meager 
data do not suggest a rapid rate of growth. 
