''Microstomus'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

righteye flounder Pleuronectidae, also known as righteye flounders, are a family of flounders. They are called "righteye flounders" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their left sides, with both eyes on their right sides. The Paralichthyidae are the o ...

s native to the northern Pacific and north-eastern Atlantic oceans.

Etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

The word ''Microstomus'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''μικρὸς'' (''mikros''), meaning "small", and ''στόμα'' (''stoma''), meaning "mouth".

Species

There are currently five recognized species in this genus: * ''

Microstomus achne The slime flounder (''Microstomus achne'') is a kind of flatfish from the family Pleuronectidae. It is a demersal fish that lives on sand and mud bottoms at depths of between , though it is most commonly found between . Its native habitat is the t ...

'' ( D. S. Jordan & Starks, 1904) (Slime flounder) * ''

Microstomus bathybius ''Microstomus'' is a genus of righteye flounders native to the northern Pacific and north-eastern Atlantic oceans. Etymology The word ''Microstomus'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek ''μικρὸς'' (''mikros''), meaning "small", and ...

'' ( Gilbert, 1890) (Deep-sea sole) * ''

Microstomus kitt The lemon sole (''Microstomus kitt'') is a flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. It is native to shallow seas around Northern Europe, where it lives on stony bottoms down to depths of about . It grows up to in length and reaches about in weigh ...

'' ( Walbaum, 1792) (Lemon sole) * ''

Microstomus pacificus The Pacific Dover sole (''Microstomus pacificus''), also called the slime sole or slippery sole, is a Pacific Ocean, Pacific flatfish of the Pleuronectidae, flounder family which ranges from Baja California to the Bering Sea. It takes its name ...

'' ( Lockington, 1879) (Pacific Dover sole) * ''

Microstomus shuntovi ''Microstomus shuntovi'' is a flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. It is a bathydemersal fish that lives on bottoms at depths of between . Its native habitat is the north Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's ...

'' Borets, 1983

References

Pleuronectidae Marine fish genera Taxa named by Carl Moritz Gottsche {{Pleuronectiformes-stub