Topic: flatfish

flatfish common name for any member of the unique and widespread order Pleuronectiformes containing over 500 species (including the flounder, halibut, plaice, sole, and turbot), 130 of which are American. Flatfishes are common in both the Atlantic and Pacific; many are important food and game fishes. All flatfishes have an unusual flattened body form well suited to life on the bottom. The development of the young flatfish recapitulates to some degree the probable evolutionary process. The newly hatched transparent larvae are bilaterally symmetrical, but soon the characteristic compression of... Read more