Solenette
Dwarf tongue ( Buglossidium luteum )
The dwarf tongue ( Buglossidium luteum ) is an asymmetrically constructed flatfish whose eyes are set on the right side of the body. It is the only species of the genus Buglossidium; to meet them is in the North Atlantic from Iceland and Norway to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean.
Features
The dwarf tongue is like all sole laterally strongly flattened and has an elongated and longitudinally oval body. They reach a maximum total length of 13 centimeters, making it so a very small flatfish. The eyes are both located on the right side of the body while the fish usually with the left side on the bottom of the water. Along the sidelines are between 55 to 70 scales.
The basic color of eyes side is beige with regularly distributed dark spots. The left half of the body ( blind side ) is white to gray. The dorsal fin is far from the eyes to the head on, just as in the anal fin is every sixth or seventh dorsal spine stained dark with her. The dorsal fin has 63-77 and the anal fin 50-64 fin rays. The flipper on the eye side is small and has 3-5 rays, which is completely reduced to the blind side.
Dissemination
The dwarf tongue lives on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean from Iceland and Norway to Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, the North Sea and the western Baltic Sea. She lives mainly on sandy coasts in depths up to 250 meters.
Way of life
The dwarf tongue captured mainly on small crustaceans such as copepods and bottom amphipods, molluscs and polychaetes. The spawning season extends from July to August, while the eggs are released in the shallow water and swim due to embedded oil droplets in the water column. The symmetrically built juveniles hatch after five to six days and are about 2 to 2.4 millimeters long.
System
The dwarf tongue is the only species of the genus Buglossidium within the sole ( Soleidae ).