European flounder

Flounder ( Platichthys flesus)

The Flounder ( Platichthys flesus ) is a flatfish from the coastal waters of Europe. She lives in the White Sea, along the coast of Norway, in the North and Baltic Sea, around the British Isles, in the Bay of Biscay, on the coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the northern Mediterranean coast to the Aegean. It also occurs in the Black Sea and on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The flounder preferred brackish water and also tolerates fresh. Preferably, it stays in estuaries, fjords and bays. Some specimens migrate far up the rivers.

In northern Germany, the flounder is also called Butt ( eg Elbbutt ) - not to be confused with place it in the scientific sense.

Features

The flounder has a streamlined, oval, asymmetrical, laterally strongly flattened body. The body width is less than half the body length. For most, however, flounders are the eyes on the right side of the body, one third of the specimens on the left. Flounder are a maximum of 50 inches long. Regular sizes are 25-30 cm and a weight of about 300 g, the relatively small mouth does not reach below the eye. Along the lateral line organ are bone bump along the base of the dorsal and anal fin rough, knotty scales. The flounder was on the top often pale, reddish spots, similar to the soil.

Fins formula: Dorsal 53-62, 37-46 anal

Way of life

Flounder live on sand and mud coasts in depths up to 100 meters. They bury themselves during the day often superficially in the sand one, only the eyes are then produced. At night they look for food. They feed on isopods, amphipods, mollusks, and bristle worms. The freshwater population eats mainly midges and caddis fly larvae.

Reproduction

For spawning flounder migrate into the sea. In the southern and south-eastern North Sea flounder spawn from February to May, off the coast of northern Norway and the Kola peninsula of April to June. A female lays up to 2 million eggs, which have a diameter of 0.8-1.4 mm. In brackish water, the eggs are larger. At a water temperature of 10 ° C, the larvae hatch in about a week. They are then about 3 mm long and live in. pelagic. With a length of 7-10 mm, the metamorphosis begins and the eye of the future blind side moves to the top. During this time many Flunderlarven migrate from the sea with the help of the tidal currents, the rivers high, such as the Elbe. Here, the salinity plays an extremely important role. Young flounder larvae initially feed tiny crustaceans such as copepods and ostracods.

Use

Flounder are caught with trawls, traps and gill nets as food fish.

Hazardous situation

The World Conservation Union IUCN leads the flounder in the Red List of endangered species, but it is currently " not at risk " as judged (Least Concern ). It is a common species for which there are no known major threats.