Overview
The Gulf flounder is a flatfish. It has a dark brown spotted appearence and both eyes are located on one side of the head.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Actinopterygii
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Paralichthyidae
- Genus
- Paralichthys
- Species
- albigutta
Habitat
Adults are found in a variety of habitats, but generally prefer hard, sandy bottoms; juveniles settle in high salinity seagrass beds.
Diet
Shrimp, Mullet, Larvae, Plankton, Small Fish.
Behavior
Adults spend most of the year in bays and estuaries, migrating into deeper offshore waters to spawn during fall and winter (peaking between late October-mid-December). Specimens with ripe gonads have been collected at depths of 20-40 m in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Fishing
They are a common sport fish that can be readily caught with dead fish (such as mullet), live bait, or even artificial or frozen baits such as shrimp or clams. A common way of catching this flounder is by spearfishing or jigging. The recreational daily bag limit for this species is 10 and the minimum size is 12 inches (established in 1996).
Conservation Status
Listed as Least Concern by IUCN.