. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. BLACKBACK or WINTER FLOUNDER FLUKE or SUMMER FLOUNDER (Fseudoplevironectes americanus) (Paralichthys dentatus) Flounders, an important year-round food fish, are members of a large family of flatfish which includes winter flounder, summer flounder (sometimes called fluke), starry flounder, yellowtail flounder, and a wide variety of soles and dabs. Flounder, highly prized by sport as well as commercial fishermen, weigh from i to 5 pounds. The summer flounder, however, weighs up to 15 pounds. DESCRIPTION Flatfish could well be called the clown
. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. BLACKBACK or WINTER FLOUNDER FLUKE or SUMMER FLOUNDER (Fseudoplevironectes americanus) (Paralichthys dentatus) Flounders, an important year-round food fish, are members of a large family of flatfish which includes winter flounder, summer flounder (sometimes called fluke), starry flounder, yellowtail flounder, and a wide variety of soles and dabs. Flounder, highly prized by sport as well as commercial fishermen, weigh from i to 5 pounds. The summer flounder, however, weighs up to 15 pounds. DESCRIPTION Flatfish could well be called the clowns of the sea. Although "they come in a variety of sizes, all of them are bizarre in appearance. Born upright with normally placed eyes, young flatfishes soon find their skulls beginning to twist and one eye moving toward the other side. At the same time the fish begins to tilt. Within a short time both eyes peer from the same side and the fish swims with the eyeless side down. Not all flatfish twist in the same direc- tion, some twist toward the right and some toward the left. As an example, the blackback is a righteye flounder and the fluke is a lefteye flounder. As the head and eyes twist, the mouth becomes distorted and the flatfish "ever after wears a crooked, pained look.' (National Geographic) Flounder resemble flying saucers as they ripple and glide through the water. Part of nature's camouflage is the way they glide to the bottom and then flip sand over their backs, becoming almost invisible except for their protruding eyes. When a small fish or other prey is spotted, the flounder, with a squirt of water from the under-side gill, jet-propels itself off the bottom in hot pursuit. The white, belly side blends with the light filtering down through the water, protecting it from enemies below. The darker top side usually resembles the color of the bottom on which the flounder lives. HABITAT Flounder are found along almost every coastline of the United States. Among
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