Righteye flounders are a family, Pleuronectidae, of flounders. They are called "righteye flounders" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their left side, with both eyes on the right side.
Their dorsal and anal fins are long and continuous, with the dorsal fin extending forward onto the head.
They are found on the bottoms of oceans around the world, with some species, such as the Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus, being found down to 2,000 m. The smaller species eat sea-floor invertebrates such as polychaetes and crustaceans, but the larger righteye flounders, such as H. hippoglossus, which grows up to 2.4 m, feed on other fishes and cephalopods as well.
They include many important commerically fished species, including not only the various fish called flounders, but also the European plaice, the halibuts, the lemon sole, the common dab, the Pacific Dover sole, and the flukes.
Classification
In some classifications the subfamilies
Paralichthodinae,
Poecilopsettinae, and
Rhombosoleinae are raised to the level of families.
According to FishBase there are 101 species in 41 genera and five subfamilies:
Genus Verasper
Subfamily Hippoglossoidinae
Subfamily Lyopsettinae
Subfamily Paralichthodinae
Subfamily Pleuronectinae
- Tribe Isopsettini
- Tribe Microstomini
- Genus Hypsopsetta
- Genus Lepidopsetta
- Genus Microstomus
- Genus Pleuronichthys
- C-O sole, Pleuronichthys coenosus Girard, 1854.
- Ridged-eye flounder, Pleuronichthys cornutus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846).
- Curlfin sole, Pleuronichthys decurrens Jordan & Gilbert, 1881.
- Ocellated turbot, Pleuronichthys ocellatus Starks & Thompson, 1910.
- Spotted turbot, Pleuronichthys ritteri Starks & Morris, 1907.
- Hornyhead turbot, Pleuronichthys verticalis Jordan & Gilbert, 1880.
- Genus Tanakius
Tribe Pleuronectini
- Genus Kareius
- Genus Limanda
- Yellowfin sole, Limanda aspera (Pallas, 1814).
- Yellowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea (Storer, 1839).
- Longhead dab, Limanda proboscidea Gilbert, 1896.
- Sand flounder, Limanda punctatissimus (Steindachner, 1879).
- Sakhalin sole, Limanda sakhalinensis Hubbs, 1915.
- Genus Liopsetta
- Genus Parophrys
Genus Platichthys
Genus Pleuronectes
Genus Pseudopleuronectes
Tribe Psettichthyini
Subfamily Poecilopsettinae
- Genus Marleyella
- Genus Nematops
- Genus Poecilopsetta
- Poecilopsetta albomaculata Norman, 1939.
- Coloured righteye flounder, Poecilopsetta colorata Günther, 1880.
- Poecilopsetta dorsialta Guibord & Chapleau, 2001.
- Poecilopsetta hawaiiensis Gilbert, 1905.
- Poecilopsetta inermis (Breder, 1927).
- Poecilopsetta macrocephala (Breder, 1936).
- Fowler's large-scale righteye flounder, Poecilopsetta megalepis Fowler, 1934.
- African righteye flounder, Poecilopsetta natalensis Norman, 1931.
- Poecilopsetta normani Foroshchuk & Fedorov, 1992.
- Tile-colored righteye flounder, Poecilopsetta plinthus (Jordan & Starks, 1904).
- Alcock's narrow-body righteye flounder, Poecilopsetta praelonga Alcock, 1894.
- Poecilopsetta vaynei Quéro, Hensley & Maugé, 1988.
- Poecilopsetta zanzibarensis Norman, 1939.
Subfamily Rhombosoleinae
References
Pleuronectiformes
Schollen | Pleuronectidae | Plekšninės | Pleuronectidae