Gulf flounder - flounder world

• Brown body color, with numerous spots and blotches
• Three prominent dark, eyelike spots forming a triangle-shape (one spot on lateral line, one above and one below)
• Numerous white spots scattered throughout body and fins
• Belly is white or dusky
• Strong canine-like teeth
• Wedge-shaped tail, its tip in the middle

The Gulf flounder is a flatfish that swims on its side. Their two eyes look upward when swimming. They have sharp teeth, two eyes on one side, and have a white side. Paralichthys albigutta is widely distributed in the western North Atlantic. Adults are found in a variety of habitats, but generally prefer hard, sandy bottoms; juveniles settle in high salinity seagrass beds. Longevity is 7–10 years and females reach maturity between 1–2 years. It is commercially and recreationally exploited. The center of abundance of Paralichthys albigutta in the Gulf of Mexico is along the northeastern coast of Florida. West of the Mississippi River delta, it occurs in very low numbers.It appears to naturally occur in low abundance in seagrass beds. It is common in museum collections (660 lots). Many species of fishes, including P. albigutta, have experienced declines in abundance in the Northern Gulf of Mexico from 1970-2000; although Fodrie et al. (2010),(This needs to be challenged, as in coastal Western Louisiana, the flounder have not been as plentiful in 50 years, as of 2018), attributed this at least in part to the effects of global rises in sea temperature, there are also a number of other factors (e.g., bycatch in trawl fisheries, increased recreational landings: T. Munroe pers. comm. 2015) that may contribute to these declines. Gill netting has been implicated in the decline of flounder stocks in North Carolina due to targeting of non-reproductive juveniles; however, the population-level effects of this method of harvest on P. albigutta are unknown 

Flounder inhabit a wide variety of coastal habitats including brackish water rivers, tidal creeks, bays, estuaries, beaches, muddy or sandy bottoms and near-shore rocky bottoms. Anglers generally use light spinning tackle and often target flounder close to shoreline structure including stumps, dock piles, seawalls and bridge piles, which are good points of ambush. While flounder can be caught with a wide variety of natural or artificial baits, most anglers prefer to use live mud minnows, live finger mullet, live or frozen shrimp, cut bait or jigs. Flounder are ambush predators that feed primarily by sight - so it is often helpful to periodically bump the bait across the bottom to make it more visible. Flounder can also be taken with a gig in shallow waters, especially at night with the use of a lantern.

   Scientific classification  

Kingdom:        Animalia

Phylum:     Chordata

Class:      Actinopterygii

Order:    Pleuronectiformes

Family:   Paralichthyidae

Genus:  Paralichthys

Gulf flounder appear to prefer the ocean floor and camouflage against areas to stealthily strike their prey. This demersal species occurs in shallow depths within estuaries and coastal environments; it is most commonly found on the continental shelf at depths of 18–92 m, but has been collected to about 130 m.

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