The summer flounder or fluke (''Paralichthys dentatus'') is a marine

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

that is found in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

off the East Coast of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. It is especially abundant in waters from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

Description

''Paralichthys dentatus'' (Linnaeus, 1766), also called a fluke, is a member of the large-tooth

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, tho ...

family

Paralichthyidae Large-tooth flounders or sand flounders are a family, Paralichthyidae, of flounders. The family contains 14 genera with a total of about 110 species. They lie on the sea bed on their right side; both eyes are always on the left side of the head, ...

. There are typically 5 to 14 ocellated (eye-like) spots on the body. Like most members of the left-eye flounders, they can change the color and pattern of their dark side to match the surrounding bottom and are also capable of rapidly burrowing into muddy or sandy bottoms. The teeth are quite sharp and well developed on both upper and lower jaws. The average summer flounder reaches sexual maturity at 2 years and weighs 1 to 3 pounds, typically 15 to 20 inches in length, though they may grow as large as 26 pounds and live up to 20 years with females making up the largest and oldest specimens. Female flounders have a maximum observed age of 17 years, while male flounders have a maximum observed age of 15 years. Adults are highly predatory and considered mostly piscivorous, often lying buried with only their head exposed to ambush

prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

which includes sand lance, menhaden, atlantic silverside, mummichog killifish, small

bluefish The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as t ...

, porgies,

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting ...

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

, and

crabs Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting " tail" ( abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in al ...

. While primarily considered a bottom fish, they are rapid swimmers over short distances and can become very aggressive, feeding actively at mid-depths, even chasing prey to the surface.

Habitat

The summer flounder has a range in the western

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, possibly farther south where the summer flounder may mix and be confused with its close relative the southern flounder ('' Paralichthys lethostigma'') which lacks the eye-like spots of the summer flounder. ''Paralichthys dentatus'' is most common to the coastal and

shelf waters Shelf ( : shelves) may refer to: * Shelf (storage), a flat horizontal surface used for display and storage Geology * Continental shelf, the extended perimeter of a continent, usually covered by shallow seas * Ice shelf, a thick platform of ice ...

off of the northeast U.S. where they are commonly called Fluke. In the spring months fluke leave their winter stay in the deep ocean waters, where

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aqua ...

occurs, to move into the inshore waters along

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

es,

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ma ...

s, bays,

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environme ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...

s, and creeks where they will stay until autumn or even early winter.

Commercial fishing, angling, and food quality

Commercial methods for summer flounder typically include

trawling Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different spec ...

. Recreational fishing is typically done while drifting in a boat or casting from shore using a wide variety of methods which include live or cut baits on a bottom rig, artificial lures, or weighted jigs tipped with strip baits. It is considered an excellent food fish with firm, mild-tasting white meat.

Management

The summer flounder is often considered to be, by far, the most important

along the Atlantic coast as it is important to both the

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must oft ...

industry and very popular for

recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

in the northeast United States. In addition to commercial fishing, businesses such as recreational charters, party boats, bait and tackle stores, and any number of businesses associated with boating and

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techni ...

may depend on a viable summer flounder angling season. Because of this importance there has been much debate and concern over summer flounder populations and government imposed recreational size and creel regulations which currently vary from state to state. Recent debate has centered on whether summer flounder are on the decline due to

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 the ...

, and this has made the summer flounder an important species of topic in the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 2006. Th
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council
provides management of the summer flounder species. The management of summer flounder is established between the U.S.-Canadian boarder to North Carolina's southern border. Due to summer flounder migrating between federal and state waters, the management council works in conjunction with th
Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission
and th
National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS).

References

* International Game Fish Association, Species Identification (2003) * The Audubon Society, Field Guide To North American Fishes (1983), ''Knopf'' * Gulf of Maine Research Institute; www.gmri.org {{Taxonbar, from=Q2536162 Paralichthyidae Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fauna of the Southeastern United States Fish described in 1766 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus