Read the article with FishingTheSpot: the flounder fish
Keep an eye on this subject!
Thousands of species spotlights and techniques but also all the local information about your city!
Meet other anglers near you and share your fishing fishing trips, afoot or on a boat, at sea or in freshwater
See the fishing tripsThe Flounder Fish
Spring and Autumn
25 cm
Did you fish
this species this month?
The Flounder Fish belongs to the Pleuronectidae family. It usually reaches a size of 50 cm; the maximum observed size is 60 cm for a weight of 1.5 kg. The maximum lifespan is estimated at 15 years. It reproduces in early spring. The female can lay up to 2 million eggs. The best time to fish it is in spring and autumn.
The Flounder fish is a flatfish of general losanitary appearance, taking into account the triangular shape of the head and dorsal and anal fins. Both eyes are on the same side of the head, on the right side, for about 2/3 of the individuals. The mouth is small and terminal, with a slightly tapered snout. The oral commissure is located on the same line as the center of the eye. The lateral line barely curves towards the dorsal edge at the pectoral fins. It has a row of tubers in its front part. Similarly, the base of the dorsal and anal fins is highlighted by a line of tubers, which are clearly palpable. The anal fin has 35 to 46 soft rays. The oculate side has a variable coloring, from olive green to reddish brown, or grey, enhanced by dark green mottling, with small, dull and few orange spots. This helps to give it a "dirty" appearance. The blind side is white.
The Flounder Fish lifestyle
Juveniles, in estuaries and desalinated waters, feed in the first year half on planktonic prey (copepods, diatoms, etc.) and half on insect larvae.
As an adult, flounders are carnivorous, predators of benthic macrofauna: worms, bivalves, small fish and small crustaceans such as the green crab Carcinus maenas (observation of the editor).
Spawning adults descend rivers in winter to spawn at sea. Breeding takes place in early spring, offshore, on loose bottoms of about fifty meters in water with a salinity of more than 10 per thousand. The spawning areas are limited and gather all the spawning fleets in the area at the same time. Thus an area has been identified off the coast of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer where all the fleets of the Gulf of Lion gather in mid-February. Males reach sexual maturity between one and a half and three years of age, for a height of 18 to 25 cm. Females, between one and a half and four years old, and 18 to 30 cm. They carry between 400,000 and 2 million eggs 1 mm in diameter. The larvae migrate to the coast, standing at a depth of about 10 m. Metamorphosis occurs at a size of 15 to 30 mm. Then juveniles enter estuaries and rivers using tidal currents selectively.
The flounder fish habitat
It can be found on both rocky and sandy bottoms, in lagoons or estuaries, and in the beds of rivers and tributaries up to several hundred kilometers from the sea.
The Flounder fish is found in Mediterranean, Atlantic, English Channel and North Sea, European Freshwater.
The Flounder fish Angling
If the flounder hides during the day, buried in its muddy and sandy bottoms, it goes in search of food at night. It is therefore fished between the very end of the afternoon and dawn.
Flounder can be fished with the following techniques:
- with a straight thread,
- to the bottom line (cords),
- to surfcasting,
- to the zipper.
