Flounder

Flounder is a common name for a group of flatfish species that live as demersal fish on ocean floors worldwide, some also entering estuaries, drawn from several distantly related genera that share the suborder Pleuronectoidei across five families: Achiropsettidae, Bothidae, Pleuronectidae, Paralichthyidae and Samaridae. Commercially important species include the Gulf, southern, summer and winter flounders of the western Atlantic, the European and witch flounders of European waters, and species called halibut or olive flounder in the North Pacific. During metamorphosis from larva to juvenile, one eye migrates across the head to the other side of the body, so adults rest and swim with both eyes on their upward-facing side, camouflaged against the seafloor; the side the eyes migrate to varies by species. Flounders ambush prey such as fish spawn, crustaceans, polychaetes and small fish near muddy bottoms, bridge piles, docks and reefs, typically reaching 22 to 60 centimeters in length, occasionally up to 95 centimeters, with a width of roughly half their length.