flounder

flounder

1. a European flatfish, Platichthys flesus having a greyish-brown body covered with prickly scales: family Pleuronectidae: an important food fish

2. US and Canadian any flatfish of the families Bothidae (turbot, etc.) and Pleuronectidae (plaice, halibut, sand dab, etc.)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

flounder

[′flau̇n·dər]

(vertebrate zoology)

Any of a number of flatfishes in the families Pleuronectidae and Bothidae of the order Pleuronectiformes.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Flounder

 

(Pleuronectes [or Platichthys] flesus luscus, a fish of the flounder family; a subspecies of the fluke. Its body length reaches 30 cm; in some estuaries a dwarf form is found. It is widespread in the Black and Azov seas and sometimes frequents the estuaries and lower reaches of rivers. It achieves sexual maturity in the third year of life and casts its roe from the end of January to the middle of March; the spawn may be as large as 1 million eggs. It feeds on benthic invertebrates—mollusks, crustaceans, and worms—and small fishes. It is of minor commercial importance and is caught mainly in the Sea of Azov.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.