Ken Schultz's Field Guide to Saltwater Fish - Macaw Pets store

Flounder, Winter
Pseudopleuronectes americanus
OTHER NAMES
flounder, lemon sole, sole,
blackback, blueback, black
flounder, dab, mud dab,
flatfish, Georges Bank
flounder; French: plie
rouge; Italian: sogliola
limanda; Spanish: mendo
limon.
Distribution. Winter
flounder are common from
Chesapeake Bay north to
the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Stragglers occur south to
Georgia and north to
Labrador.
Habitat. Winter flounder
are found inshore in estuaries
and coastal ocean areas.
In the mid-Atlantic they stay
inshore from January
through April. Smaller fish
occur in shallower water,
although larger fish will
enter water only a foot
deep. They range anywhere
from well up into the hightide
mark to depths of at
least 400 feet. Preferring
sand-mud bottoms, they are
also found over sand, clay,
or fine gravel and on hard
bottom offshore.
80 Flounder, Winter
One of the most common and well-known flounder of shallow
Atlantic coastal waters, the winter flounder belongs to
the Pleuronectidae family of flatfish. It is a right-eyed flatfish,
with both eyes on the right side of its body, and gets its
name because it retreats to cold, deep water in the summer
and reappears in shallower water close to shore in the winter;
its relative the summer flounder does the opposite.
Identification. The body is oval and flat with a tiny
mouth. Color varies from reddish-brown to dark brown
with small black spots. The underside is whitish and occasionally
brown, tinged with blue around the edges. The
caudal fin is slightly rounded. The winter flounder differs
from the similar yellowtail flounder in its straight lateral line,
no arch over the pectoral fin, thicker body, and widely
spaced eyes.
Size. Most winter flounder weigh between 1 and 1 1 ⁄2
pounds and average less than a foot in length, although
they are capable of growing to 8 pounds and 2 feet. The alltackle
world record is 7 pounds. Larger fish are sometimes
called “sea flounder” to distinguish them from the smaller
bay fish.
Life history/Behavior. Spawning occurs in shallow water
over sandy bottoms from January through May. Winter
flounder eggs stick together and sink to the bottom, where
they hatch in roughly 16 days, depending on water temperature.
These fish move from deep water toward shallow
water during the fall and offshore again in the spring.
Food and feeding habits. When on a soft bottom, the
winter flounder will lie buried up to its eyes, waiting to
attack prey. Because of its small mouth, its diet includes only
smaller food like marine worms, small crustaceans, and
small shelled animals like clams and snails.