Halibut eyes on which side

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Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world. Flounder Types There are four species of flounder found in the oceans. Appearance Rounded flattened body shape with a medium-sized flat tail fin often with colored spots.

Season If you know where to fish for them, you can catch flounder year-round in South Carolina. Then, in late fall through the winter, all the fish travel downstream to inlets before they head offshore to spawn typically after the first cold front.

Where Flounder are typically bottom feeders. They like to sit near structures such as sandbars, channel edges, pilings of docks, bridges and piers, and oyster reefs. Check out inlets and the jetties throughout the fall and winter.

Eggs are fertilized externally by the males. About 15 days later, the eggs hatch and the larvae drift with deep ocean currents. As the larvae mature, they move higher in the water column and ride the surface currents to shallower, more nourishing coastal waters. In the Gulf of Alaska, the eggs and larvae are carried generally westward with the Alaska Coastal Current and may be transported hundreds of miles from the spawning ground.

Halibut larvae start life in an upright position like other fish, with an eye on each side of the head. The left eye moves to the right side of the head when the larvae are about one inch long.

At the same time, the coloration on the left side of the body fades. The fish end up with both eyes on the pigmented olive to dark brown , or right, or upper side of the body, while their underside is white. By the age of 6 months, young halibut settle to the bottom in shallow nearshore areas. Halibut feed on plankton during their first year of life. Young halibut 1 to 3 years old feed on euphausiids small shrimp-like crustaceans and small fish.

As halibut grow, fish make up a larger part of their diet. Larger halibut eat other fish, such as herring, sand lance, capelin, smelt, pollock, sablefish, cod, and rockfish. They also consume octopus, crabs, and clams. Female halibut grow faster and reach larger sizes than male halibut. Male halibut rarely reach a length of three feet.

Halibut size-at-age has changed over time. For example, the average length and weight of halibut of each age increased from the s to the s, and has decreased since then. By the s, year-old halibut were about three-quarters the length and about one-half the weight they were in the s. Reasons for changes in size-at-age are unknown. The changes are not correlated with changes in ocean temperature.

Other possible causes include competition with other species, competition among halibut, climate effects on growth or survival, effects of fishing and size limits, changes in how halibut are aged, or combinations of factors. Juvenile and some adult halibut migrate generally eastward and southward, into the Gulf of Alaska coastal current, countering the westward drift of eggs and larvae.