The tufted sole (''Dexillus muelleri'') is a species of

flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish Order (biology), suborder Pleuronectoidei, also called the Heterosomata. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through or around ...

from the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of true soles

Soleidae The true soles are a family, Soleidae, of flatfishes. It includes saltwater and brackish water species in the East Atlantic, Indian Ocean, West and Central Pacific Ocean, and the mediterranean sea. Freshwater species are found in Africa, souther ...

. It is the only species in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

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 ...

''Dexillus''. It is found in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. The tufted sole is found over seabeds which consist of sand, mud, gravel, and

sea grass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

bottoms on the inner continental shelf, they are frequently recorded as coming into bays and the mouths of estuaries. They feed on a variety of benthic invertebrates and the maximum recorded

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

for this species is 221mm. This species has been recorded from India and Sri Lanka, east through the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...

and northern Australia to Tonga, Fiji and

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

. Its northern limit is the Philippines. It is of minor commercial importance. Two other species, '' Brachirus macrolepis'' and '' Synaptura megalepidoura'', which have both been placed by some authors in the genus '' Brachirus'', alongside ''Dexillus muelleri'', are also placed in the genus ''Dexillus'' by some authorities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28745953 Soleidae Taxa named by Franz Steindachner Fish described in 1879