Flounder Biology

[Fatboi]

Anyone know much about the flounder we get in PPB? How long do they take to grow, do they stay in the bay at certain times of the year and migrate?? Is it just one species or several?? Breeding habits?? etc etc??



Just post an info you know about flounder in here....



Obviously it would help us if we knew about our prey yes?

[Jazman]

Hi fatboi,

Good thread!

I have taken flounder in the bay at all times of year, sometimes they are more numerous than other times, but this doesn't seem to correlate with season. So I assume that they don't migrate out of the bay.

I don't know anything about growth or breeding, other than the bizarre fact that flounder start off life as a normal fish (swimming upright), and when they get to a few cm long one eye migrates to the other side of the fish (this becomes the 'top' of the flounder), and they start laying flat on the bottom.

About species, as far as I know there are only 2 species of flounder in PPB (and Victoria I think); the greenback flounder and the long-snouted flounder.

Greenbacks are by far the most numerous in PPB, they are identified by their pointy 'nose', ie/ the front of their head comes to a distinct point.

Long-snouted flounder are less numerous in PPB (maybe 1 in 5 that you catch?), but seem to dominate the ocean beaches. They have a rounded head, and if you look at the mouth one of the lips is long and curls around the front of the head, hence long-snouted.

I'll try and chase up a photo or two.

Jaz <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Jazman]

The flounder on the far right is a long-snouted flounder, the other 3 are greenbacks

[Jazman]

Left one is a long-snouted flounder (if you look closely you can see the long snout), right is a greenback.

[Guest]

cool, they both look very similar to me!! hehehe, except one is darker then the other, lol.



whats the biggest one you've caught?? and whats the most you've caught in one night??

[Fatboi]

grrr!! i should remember to log in!!



anyways, the biggest one i've caught is 40cm, and the most i've caught in one night is 12 <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Jazman]

Not sure about my biggest, I'd guess 38-40 or so. Quite a few years back me and a mate got 23 between us, and saw plenty more that we didn't spear, cause we'd had enough of flounder by then! I can still vividly remember that night, the things were everywhere. A few other times I've got a dozen. But it's usually 1-3 flounder, and whatever mullet flatties and gars are unlucky enough to get speared.



Yeah, the two close up pics do look similar, but the one with 4 flounder shows the definitive features best: round head vs pointy head.

[new found]

hey

thay both taste the same dont they?????? or both nice

[Jazman]

Both species taste good, but I reckon long-snouted flounder taste better. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[new found]

hey

my dad isnt a big fish eater but one fish he LOVES is flounder.. i hope i can catch him a nice big one some day

[peejaypee]

i dont think flounder could migrate very far even if they wanted to, as they are not very quick swimmers compared to other fish. could some1 post a pic of a juvenile flounder, i'd love to see what they look like with one eye on each side swimming upright.

thanks,

pj

[Jazman]

This site has some pics of flounder larvae, they don't look much like the adults!



www.uncwil.edu/ cmsr/aqf/larval.htm



And this is the web site of a guy who investigates things like how the flounder eye migrates. His site has a lot of movies (which I can't view on my computer at the moment) about eye migration:



www.ciwemb.edu/labs/ schreiber/index.php

[rohan]

[quote name='Jazman' post='6937' date='Jun 6 2006, 11:39 AM']This site has some pics of flounder larvae, they don't look much like the adults!



www.uncwil.edu/ cmsr/aqf/larval.htm



And this is the web site of a guy who investigates things like how the flounder eye migrates. His site has a lot of movies (which I can't view on my computer at the moment) about eye migration:



www.ciwemb.edu/labs/ schreiber/index.php[/quote]





I took the dog for a walk down the beach in blairgowrie the other day and while I was wading through the shallows I saw 3 flounder, the biggest being only about 15cm and the two small ones about the size of a 20 cent piece. Anyways, on closer inspection of the real shallow water I found a fourth dead flounder about the size of a ten cent piece or smaller and it was interesting to note that the eye had most certainly already migrated to the same side of the head despit being a reasonably undeveloped fish.



Oh well, I thought it was interesting even if you blokes couldnt give a shiite.

[Jazman]

[quote name='rohan' post='7804' date='Dec 18 2006, 09:38 AM']I took the dog for a walk down the beach in blairgowrie the other day and while I was wading through the shallows I saw 3 flounder, the biggest being only about 15cm and the two small ones about the size of a 20 cent piece. Anyways, on closer inspection of the real shallow water I found a fourth dead flounder about the size of a ten cent piece or smaller and it was interesting to note that the eye had most certainly already migrated to the same side of the head despit being a reasonably undeveloped fish.



Oh well, I thought it was interesting even if you blokes couldnt give a shiite.[/quote]



I reckon it's interesting too Rohan <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':th' /> I've got no idea at what size the eye migrates, but now we know when it does the flounder are smaller than a 10 cent piece <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ink' />

[glen]

let us know if you find a 5 cent version :-) i don't know the answer either as to when the eye migrates. would be interested to find out.

[Jazman]

I just had a peep at Wikipedia to try and find the answer to the size/eye migration question - I didn't find out, but I did learn a bit about something called flounder tramping - I think we might be doing it too easy with spears fellas!

Flounder tramping

The Grande Internationale World Flounder tramping Championships take place at Palnackie, Scotland, usually in the last week of July or first week in August each year. Competitors brave the mud flats of the estuary of the Urr Water in sun or rain to try and catch the heaviest fish, or the largest catch, or even the smallest fish for prize money and a trophy. Fish are caught by walking across the mud and trapping them below the competitors foot. Leisters, which are traditional 3 pronged spears, are no longer permitted to aid capture.

[glen]

that sounds like fun (except for the mud). i have caught flounder by hand (at least little ones)! <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ink' />

[rohan]

[quote name='glen' post='7809' date='Dec 18 2006, 06:10 PM']let us know if you find a 5 cent version :-) i don't know the answer either as to when the eye migrates. would be interested to find out.[/quote]





Hopefully I can find a few the same size as a one dollar coin so I can go to crown and stick 'em down the slots.

[glen]

that sounds like a "fishy" way to gamble rohan! <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Nautilusly]

Sounds interesting! Never caught a flounder before. I suppose it is a common specie living near many squiding grounds (or why would this become a topic in this site <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> )? Wanna catch one too! Are you guys talking about spearing flounders only? what bait do they take if i fish for them and would that be any success or not? <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />