FLOUNDER (Ger. •Under, from (IDan. 'tun dra, ()Swed. /lundra, flounder). A name for any of the many marine fishes of the family Pleuroneetidm (see FLATFISH ), Which includes the halibut, dab, plaice, fluke, etc. The body is more or less elongate, always much compressed. and with the dorsal and anal fins for the greater length of the body; the sealer may be ab sent. The flounders possess the remarkable elia roc ter (unique among vertebrates) of swimming, not with the back, but with one side uppermost. The peculiarly twisted structure of the head is adapt ed to (Ids mode of life, both eyes being on the same side of the head. When young the eyes. as in other fishes, arc On each side of the head. and they swim erect: but as the fish grows older one eye moves to the other side, either around the edge or right through the head. The side of the body which is uppermost is normally colored. the par Ocular coloration usually corresponding strongly to the color of the bottom on which it dwells. while the side which habitually lies downward is white or faintly colored. Flounders abound chiefly where the bottom is smooth, either sandy or muddy. The family is a very large one. in cluding about fifty-five genera and five hundred species. They are found in all oceans. some of them living in brackish waters and even entering rivers. Some of the species grow to an enormous size-500 pounds. They are very important fol)(1-fishes. (See FIsTIEIZIEs.1 The family is di vided into three tribes. namely: (1) Hippoglos sime, the halibuts. having a large. symmetrical mouth and the ventral fins syninielrieal HALIBUT) : (2) Pleuroneetina., the tbiunders proper, with a smaller, unsymmetrical mouth and the ventral fins symmetrical or almost so; and (3) Psettinae, the turbots (q.v.), having a large mouth and the ventral fins unsymmetrical.
The distinctions outlined above are not, how being divided among the other cereals. That the use of wheat flour to the exclusion of all the other grains is not due to its higher nutritive qualities is shown from the accompanying anal ysis: ever, very closely followed in common speech, where several species belonging technically to the first subfamily are popularly called 'flounders.'
Tints the most important species of the coast of the Northern States is the summer flounder (Pa•alichthys dentat us), also called plaice, or deep-sea flounder, which may reach a length of three feet and a weight of 15 pounds, hut usually is much smaller. Like the others, it is car nivorous, feeding on shrimps, crabs, small fish (which it often pursues rapidly at the surface), and even on carrion. It is most abundant on the shallow, sandy bottoms around Long island. N. Y.. where it is taken between May and October in vast quantities. Another very similar species replaces this on the southern coast, and still another in the Gulf of Mexico. The four-spotted flounder ( Pa raliathys oblonyus), which has four oblong blackish spots. frequently comes to mar ket. The 'common' or winter flounder (Pseudo pleuronectes Ameriranus ) is also valuable as a food-fish, and is the principal one caught north of Cape Cod; it is small and of excellent flavor, and is taken in late fall and early spring, when it approaches the shore to spawn. The best known species of the Pacific Coast is the diamond flounder ( ysopset to gut t ulata ), brown blotched with bluish, and constantly caught for market. Several species are among the food-fishes of Alaskan waters, even along its Arctic coast. The pole flounder is a species (Glyptocephalus cyno ylossus) of a group known as 'flukes,' and in England. where it is common and highly prized, it is called 'craig fluke.' it has been taken in great numbers by the beam-trawl off the coast of Massachusetts, and is regarded as nearly equal in flavor to the English or true sole.
Consult Goode, Fishery Industries, Sec. 1.
1S84)- See ['actors of Organic Evolution in the article Evora•ox. See Plate Of FLATFISH AND FLOUN HERS.