WHATSTHATFISH
Bony fish

Blacktip Sole

Soleichthys heterorhinos

Also known as: Aesop Sole, Blacktip Sole, Blue-edged Sole, Flatfish Sole, Tiger Sole, Tonguefish, Banded Sole

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2016
Adult
@fishx6 · Wakatobi Dive Resort, Indonesia · August 20051 / 1
01

Overview

Found singly, buried beneath the sand, exposing only its eye and tubular nostril, over protected, shallow, sandy areas, of lagoons and seaward reefs. Moves extremely fast when disturbed and is difficult to detect when it resettles.
They feed nocturnally on small crustaceans.

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.

02

How to identify

Pattern
stripes
Body shape
flatfrilly edge

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Eastern Indian Ocean, Western Pacific
  • Country only · 1
LIVES IN

Found singly, buried beneath the sand, exposing only its eye and tubular nostril, over protected, shallow, sandy areas, of lagoons and seaward reefs.

04

Adult photos 1

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Discussion

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    ALL STAGES
    FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

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    Taxonomy

    1. kingdomAnimalia
    2. phylumChordata
    3. classTeleostei
    4. orderPleuronectiformes
    5. familySoleidae
    6. genusSoleichthys
    7. speciesSoleichthys heterorhinos (Bleeker, 1856)

    SourcesWoRMSFishBase

    06

    More in the family

    Soles (Soleidae)