Description
Also known as Flower Flounder, Flowery Flounder, Platefish, Solefish.
Found singly on hard bottoms, or partially buried in the sandy substrate, over clear coral, rubble, sand, seagrass beds, and around mangroves, of coral reefs.
They feed on crustaceans, fish, and octopus.
Length - 42cm
Depth - 0-100m
Widespread Eastern Atlantic, Western Atlantic, Caribbean
Flatfish, Soles and Flounders are placed in their families by location of their eyes. Their are both left eye and right eye dominant families.
Flatfish bury themselves in sand to hide from predators and use their eyes as periscopes as these can rotate 180 degrees.
During pelagic larval stage these fish are not flat but become so as they grow, their bodies flatten, and one eye migrates across the head next to the other eye. Ref: https://www.fishbase.se/summary/978
1 comment
Posted by Xavier F. GonzalezI saw one today at one sandy area between rock bottoms, close to the shore at the "Montones" beach in Isabela, Puerto Rico.