Leopard Flounder

Found partially buried, or out foraging for food, over silty mud and sand bottoms, of inner reef flats and seaward reefs.
Juveniles found in tide pools.

Named because the right eye has migrated to the left side of the body

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.

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