Platichthys flesus, European flounder : fisheries, aquaculture, gamefish

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Platichthys flesus (Linnaeus, 1758)

European flounder
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Platichthys flesus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Platichthys flesus (European flounder)
Platichthys flesus
Picture by Muséum-Aquarium de Nancy/D. Terver

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Pleuronectiformes (Flatfishes) > Pleuronectidae (Righteye flounders) > Pleuronectinae
Etymology: Platichthys: Greek, platys = flat + Greek, ichthys = fish (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; freshwater; brackish; demersal; pH range: 7.5 - 8.2; catadromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 1 - 100 m (Ref. 35388). Temperate; 5°C - 25°C (Ref. 13614); 72°N - 30°N, 32°W - 45°E (Ref. 54704)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Atlantic: coastal and brackish waters of western Europe and from the White Sea to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (Ref. 4705, Ref. 51442). Introduced into the USA and Canada accidentally through transport in ballast water (Ref. 1739). Asia: Iran (Ref. 39702).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 22.4, range 14 - 30 cm
Max length : 60.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 35388); common length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 30578); max. published weight: 2.9 kg (Ref. 104349); max. reported age: 15 years (Ref. 3944)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 53-62; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 37 - 46. Flatfish, its disc width less than half its length (Ref. 3137). Small mouth (Ref. 3137, Ref. 51442). Eyes mostly (70%) on right side (Ref. 3137, 51442), 79% of dextrally oriented flounder (n = 1076) in Bos, 2000 (Ref. 57574). Rough skin, especially along the lateral line and the basis of the dorsal and anal fin (Ref. 3137). Lateral line straight, slightly rounded over pectorals (Ref. 3137). Green-olive colored (Ref. 51442), the bottom side white (Ref. 3137). Irregular reddish spots on the eye side (Ref. 35388).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Migratory fish, which is most of the year found in estuaries (Ref. 51442). Adults occur on mud and sand bottom in shallow water, at sea and brackish; often entering freshwaters (Ref. 59043). During winter, adults retreat to deeper, warmer waters, where they spawn in spring (Ref. 30193). The growing larvae are moving to the coast (Ref. 51442). Larvae and early juveniles use selective tidal transport to migrate upstream rivers (Ref. 57575) using a range of triggers such as salinity, prey density and water temperature (Ref. 57573, 57574). Juveniles live in shallow coastal waters and estuaries (Ref. 57574), which are also the summer feeding grounds for the adults (Ref. 30193). Juveniles of less than a year old feed on plankton and larvae of insects, juveniles of more than a year and adults feed on benthic fauna (Ref. 51442), including small fishes and invertebrates (Ref. 30193). Nocturnal and burrowing (Ref. 30193). Marketed fresh and frozen; can be steamed, fried, boiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988). Worms and mollusks are excellent baits for line fishing (Ref. 30578).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Spawns in the water column (Ref. 7471). Produces 400,000 to 2,000,000 eggs for each female (Ref. 51442).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Amaoka, Kunio | Collaborators

Vinnikov, K.A., R.C. Thomson and T.A. Munroe, 2018. Revised classification of the righteye flounders (Teleostei: Pleuronectidae) based on multilocus phylogeny with complete taxon sampling. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 125:147-162. (Ref. 122998)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 04 February 2009

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: experimental; gamefish: yes
FAO - Aquaculture: production; Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Aquaculture: production; Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7.2 - 14.2, mean 10.2 °C (based on 862 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.7500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00759 (0.00672 - 0.00857), b=3.07 (3.03 - 3.11), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.3   ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 4.4 (3.1 - 5.5) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 13 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.22-0.3; tm=2-5; tmax=15; Fec= 2 million).
Prior r = 0.56, 95% CL = 0.36 - 0.86, Based on 5 stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (49 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate vulnerability (36 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Very high.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 33.1 [14.0, 58.0] mg/100g; Iron = 0.26 [0.13, 0.49] mg/100g; Protein = 17.8 [15.6, 19.8] %; Omega3 = 0.322 [0.161, 0.627] g/100g; Selenium = 14.7 [7.4, 32.3] μg/100g; VitaminA = 6.9 [1.9, 26.1] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.509 [0.347, 0.750] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.