Sole is a fish belonging to several families. Generally speaking, they are members of the family Soleidae, but, outside Europe, the name ''sole'' is also applied to various other similar

flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish order (biology), order Pleuronectiformes, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the ...

, especially other members of the sole suborder Soleoidei as well as members of the flounder family. In European cookery, there are several species which may be considered ''true soles'', but the common or Dover sole '' Solea solea'', often simply called ''the sole'', is the most esteemed and most widely available.

Etymology of the word

The word ''sole'' in English, French, and Italian comes from its resemblance to a sandal, Latin ''solea''. In other languages, it is named for the tongue, e.g. el, γλώσσα, german: Seezunge, nl, zeetong or ', hu, nyelvhal, es, lenguado, zh, 龍脷 ("dragon tongue"), ar, لسان الثور lisan Ath-thawr (for the common sole) meaning 'the tongue of ox' in Qosbawi accent. A partial list of common names for species referred to as sole include: *In the ''sole'' suborder Soleoidei: ** The ''

true sole The true soles are a family, Soleidae, of flatfishes. It includes saltwater and brackish water species in the East Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and West and Central Pacific Ocean. Freshwater species are found in Africa, southern Asia, New Guinea, and ...

s'', Soleidae, including the common or Dover sole, ''Solea solea''. These are the only fishes called ''soles'' in Europe. ** The ''

American sole The American soles are a family (Achiridae) of flatfish occurring in both freshwater and marine environments of the Americas. The family includes about 35 species in seven genera. These are closely related to the soles (Soleidae), and have bee ...

s'', Achiridae, sometimes classified among the Soleidae. ** The '' tonguefishes'' or ''tongue soles'', Cynoglossidae, whose common names usually include the word 'tongue'. * Several species of righteye flounder in the family

Pleuronectidae 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 op ...

, including the lemon sole, the Pacific Dover sole, and the petrale sole.

Threats

The true sole, ''Solea solea'', is sufficiently distributed that it is not considered a threatened species; however,

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...

in Europe has produced severely diminished populations, with declining catches in many regions. For example, the western English Channel and Irish Sea sole fisheries face potential collapse according to data in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Sole, along with the other major bottom-feeding fish in the North Sea such as cod, monkfish, and plaice, is listed by the

ICES ICES (formerly known as the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) is an independent, non-profit corporation that applies the study of health informatics for health services research and population-wide health outcomes research in Ontario ...

as "outside safe biological limits." Moreover, they are growing less quickly now and are rarely older than six years, although they can reach forty. World stocks of large predatory fish and large ground fish such as sole and

flounder Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, thou ...

were estimated in 2003 to be only about 10% of pre-industrial levels. According to the World Wildlife Fund in 2006, "of the nine sole stocks, seven are overfished with the status of the remaining two unknown." In 2010, Greenpeace International has added the common sole to its seafood red list. "The Greenpeace International seafood red list is a list of fish that are commonly sold in

supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries."Greenpeace International Seafood Red list
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Notes

References

* Alan Davidson, ''North Atlantic Seafood'', 1979. . * Alan Davidson, ''Mediterranean Seafood'', 1972. .

External links

* {{commercial fish topics Fish of Europe Commercial fish Fish common names