Winter Flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus (Walbaum, 1792)    
Kingdom Animalia   >   Phylum Chordata   >   Class Actinopterygii   >   Order Pleuronectiformes   >   Family Pleuronectidae   >   Genus Pseudopleuronectes   

Status:

"The two most noticeable differences between the Summer Flounder and Winter Flounder are the facts that the summer flounder has teeth and the winter flounder does not, and the fish face in different directions. The winter flounder is a 'right-eyed' flatfish and the summer flounder is a 'left-eyed' flatfish. This is determined by the direction that the fish is facing while laying on its bottom side with the eyes above the mouth. Both fish start off with one eye on each side of the head in the larvae stage and just a few weeks into their lifecycle one eye will migrate to the other side of the head. Both eyes end up on the right side of a winter flounder and on the left side of a summer flounder" (Lenox, 2017).

There are 12 records in the project database.

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Winter Flounder in Worcester Co., Maryland (6/14/2012). (c) Matt Tillett, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC). Photo by mtillett via iNaturalist. (MBP list)

A Winter Flounder caught in Northampton Co., Virginia (6/12/2013). Photo by Robert Aguilar, SERC. (MBP list)


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