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An adult flounder with both eyes migrated to its right, upward-facing side. Larval flounder are born with one eye on each side of their head, but as they grow from the larval to juvenile stage through metamorphosis, one eye migrates to the other side of the body. As a result, both eyes are then on the side which faces up.
The baby flounders have one eye on each side of their bodies like ordinary fish, and swim like other fishes do, but later on, as they undergo maturation to adulthood, the right eye moves to the left side, and flounders start to swim sideways, which gives them the ability to settle down flat on the bottom.
Some species face their left sides upward, some face their right sides upward, and others face either side upward. The most primitive members of the group, the threadfins, do not resemble the flatfish but are their closest relatives. Many important food fish are in this order, including the flounders, soles, turbot, plaice, and halibut.
The European flounder is a flatfish with an oval-shaped body with a width about half its length. The maximum recorded length is 60 centimetres (24 in) and the maximum recorded weight 2.93 kilograms (6.5 lb). However, a more usual mature length is about 50 centimetres (20 in). [3] The fish is flattened laterally and swims and rests on one side.
The starry flounder has an oval shaped body with a slender, pointed head. Its eyed side is an olive to dark brown or almost black in some cases and the blind side is a white or creamy white color. This species has unpaired fins ranging from a white to yellow-orange complexion, with black bands running perpendicular to the fish.
Like other flatfish, the larval sand flounder begins its life with an eye on each side of its head and a round body shape, swimming upright through the midwater. [3] As it grows out of this larval stage entering the juvenile stage one eye moves to the right side leaving the other blind and it takes on a flat diamond shape swimming flat/parallel to the ground.
Samaridae move across the sea floor through propulsion by the tail and assisted by the pectoral fins. Flatfish move into the water column by turning its body and propelling itself upwards through propulsion by the tail and body, and continue to move via the "swim and glide" method of short bursts of propulsion. [9]
Paralichthys lethostigma, the southern flounder, is a species of large-tooth flounder native to the East Coast of the United States and the northern Gulf of Mexico. It is a popular sport fish and is the largest and most commercially valuable flounder in the western North Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. [ 2 ]