Flounder. In season, they are plentiful, inexpensive at the store or for $10 at a restaurant, cooked broiled or fried with a light cover of breadcrumbs. Goes good with tomatoes and corn.
Theflounder is an ocean-dwellingflatfishspecies that is found in coastal lagoons andestuaries of theNorthern Atlantic andPacificOceans.
In its life cycle, an adult flounder has two eyes situated on one side of its head, where at hatching one eye is located on each side of its brain. One eye migrates to the other side of the body as a process of metamorphosis as it grows from larval to juvenile stage. As an adult, a flounder changes its habits and camouflages itself by lying on the bottom of the ocean floor as protection against predators.[1] As a result, the eyes are then on the side which faces up. The side to which the eyes migrate is dependent on the species type.
Pleuronectes americanus
Theflounder is an ocean-dwellingflatfishspecies that is found in coastal lagoons andestuaries of theNorthern Atlantic andPacificOceans.
The Summer Flounder(Paralichthys dentatus) aka "fluke" is a marine flatfish that is found in the Atlantic Ocean off theEast coast of the United States and Canada. It is especially abundant in waters fromNorth Carolina toMassachusetts.[1]
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[edit]Description
Paralichthys dentatus (Linnaeus, 1766), also called a Fluke, is a member of the left-eyed flounder family Paralichthyidae. There are typically 5 to 14 ocellated (eye-like) spots on the body. Like most members of the left-eye flounders they can change the color and pattern of their dark side to match the surrounding bottom, and are also capable of rapidly burrowing into muddy or sandy bottoms. The teeth are quite sharp and well developed on both upper and lower jaws. The average Summer flounder reaches sexual maturity at 2 years and weighs 1 to 3 pounds, typically 15 to 20 inches in length. Though they may grow as large as 26 pounds and live up to 20 years with females making up the largest and oldest specimens. Adults are highly predatory and considered mostlypiscivorous, often laying buried with only their head exposed to ambush prey which includes sand lance, menhaden, atlantic silverside, mummichog killifish, small bluefish, porgies, squid,shrimp, and crabs. While primarily considered a bottom fish they are rapid swimmers over short distances and can become very aggressive feeding actively at middepths, even chasing prey to the surface.
[edit]Habitat
The Summer Flounder has a range in the western Atlanticfrom Nova Scotia to Florida,[2] possibly further south where the Summer Flounder may mix and be confused with its close relative the Southern Flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma) which lacks the eye-like spots of the Summer flounder.Paralichthys dentatus is most common to the coastal andshelf waters off of the northeast U.S. where they are commonly called Fluke. In the spring months fluke leave their winter stay in the deep ocean waters, where spawning occurs, to move into the inshore waters along beaches, inlets, bays,estuaries, canals, and creeks where they will stay until autumn or even early winter.
[edit]Commercial fishing, Angling, and Food Quality
Commercial methods for summer flounder typically includetrawling. Recreational fishing is typically done while drifting in a boat or casting from shore using a wide variety of methods which include live or cut baits on a bottom rig, artificial lures, or weighted jigs tipped with strip baits. It is considered an excellent food fish with firm, mild tasting white meat.
[edit]Management
The summer flounder is often considered to be, by far, the most important flounder along the Atlantic coast as it is important to both the commercial fishing industry and very popular for recreational fishing in the northeast United States. In addition to commercial fishing, businesses such as recreational charters, party boats, bait and tackle stores, and any number of businesses associated with boating andangling may depend on a viable summer flounder angling season. Because of this importance there has been much debate and concern over summer flounder populations and government imposed recreational size and creel regulations which currently vary from state to state. Recent debate has centered around whether Summer flounder are on the decline due to overfishing, and this has made the summer flounder an important species of topic in the reauthorization of theMagnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 2006.
In its life cycle, an adult flounder has two eyes situated on one side of its head, where at hatching one eye is located on each side of its brain. One eye migrates to the other side of the body as a process of metamorphosis as it grows from larval to juvenile stage. As an adult, a flounder changes its habits and camouflages itself by lying on the bottom of the ocean floor as protection against predators.[1] As a result, the eyes are then on the side which faces up. The side to which the eyes migrate is dependent on the species type.
Flounder ambush their prey, feeding at soft muddy areas of the sea bottom, near bridge piles, docks and coral reefs, and have been also found at the bottom of the Mariana trench, the deepest known ocean canyon. Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lt. Don Walsh reached a depth of 10,916 meters (35,814 ft) and were surprised to discover soleor flounder about 30 cm long.
A flounder's diet consists mainly of fish spawn, crustaceans,polychaetes and small fish. Flounder typically grow to a length of 12.5–37.5 centimeters (4.9–14.8 in), and as large as 60 centimeters (24 in). Their width is about half their length.
World stocks of large predatory fish and large ground fish such assole and flounder were estimated in 2003 to be only about 10% of pre-industrial levels, largely due to overfishing. Most overfishing is due to the extensive activities of the fishing industry.[2][3][4] Current estimates suggest that approximately 30 million flounder (excluding sole) are alive in the world today. In the Gulf of Mexico, along the coast of Texas, research indicates the flounder population could be as low as 15 million due to heavy overfishing and industrial pollution.[citation needed]
According to Seafood Watch, Atlantic flounder and sole are currently on the list of seafood that sustainability-minded consumers should avoid.[5]
The winter flounder,| Scientific classification | |
|---|---|
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Subclass: | Neopterygii |
| Infraclass: | Teleostei |
| Order: | Pleuronectiformes |
| Family: | Pleuronectidae |
| Genus: | Pseudopleuronectes |
| Species: | P. americanus |
Pseudopleuronectes americanus, (also known as black back) is a right-eyed ("dextral") flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. It is native to coastal waters of the western north Atlantic coast, from Labrador, Canada to Georgia, United States. In the waters from Newfoundland down through Massachusetts Bayit is the most common near-shore (shallow-water) flounder. It grows up to 64 cm in length and 3.6 kg in weight.
It spends the summer off shore in deeper waters, and winters in shallow coastal estuaries rivers and bays.
Winter flounders are highly regarded for their delicious white meat. They are sometimes called lemon sole in the U.S.[1]
They can be differentiated from summer flounder because they almost always have eyes on the right side of their bodies. They also do not have teeth. Summer flounder have their eyes on the left side of their bodies, and do have teeth.
The name ‘winter’ flounder refers to its annual spawning migrations into nearshore waters in winter. Adult winter flounder migrations consist of two phases; an autumn estuarine immigration prior to spawning, and a late spring/summer movement to either deeper, cooler portions of estuaries or to offshore areas after spawning. This pattern of seasonal distribution may change in the colder waters of the northern extent of the flounder’s range where it migrates to shallow water in the summer and deeper waters in the winter. The annual spawning period for winter flounder varies over its geographic range. Although spawning periods overlap considerably, peak spawning times are earlier in southern locations.
During spawning, females release eggs whose properties facilitate retention within spawning grounds. A number of factors influence larval and juvenile growth and survival, including temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and food availability. Nursery habitat for winter flounder larvae and juveniles is typically saltwater coves, coastal salt ponds, and estuaries although larvae and juveniles have also been found in open ocean areas. Larvae are predominantly found in the upper reaches of natal estuaries in early spring, moving into the lower estuary later in the season.
Sources of natural mortality for winter flounder include predation, parasites, disease, and competition. Predatory fish such as striped bass, bluefish, toadfish, and summer flounder, as well as birds, invertebrates, and marine mammals prey on larvae and juveniles. Atlantic cod, spiny dogfish, goosefish, and winter skate are the main predators of adult winter flounder. Little skate, smooth dogfish, hakes, sea raven, striped sea robin, striped bass, bluefish, and wrymouth also consume adult winter flounder in smaller amounts.
Winter flounder diet is limited by their small mouth size. Adults feed mostly on small invertebrates, shrimp, clams, and worms. Feeding occurs solely during the day because winter flounder depend on sight to locate prey, and intensifies during ebbing and flooding tides. At night, winter flounder lie flat with their eye turrets retracted until sunrise.[2]
Winter flounder population has been decreasing due to overfishing and habitat destruction. Management of the species is focused on regulations to minimize fishing mortality rate, economic impacts, social impacts, and dead discards. And cannibalism.
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