Leopard Flounder (Bothus pantherinus) | Project Noah

Error message

Unable to fetch location details at this time.

Photo by NayNay

Published on Project Noah

Zoom

20.7984, -156.332

Field Notes

Description:

These fish are "side swimmers". Both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through and around the head during development. Leopard flounders use color to camouflage themselves. Bothus pantherinus takes on dull, spotted coloring to blend in with the rocky seafloor. It waits for its prey to swim by. Other times the flounder turns an almost see-through color to avoid predators when swimming near the surface.

Habitat:

Spotted at the Maui Aquarium

Reference Links:

Leopard flounder

Species ID Suggestions

Leopard Flounder

Bothus pantherinus

1

Comments (3)

Sign in to comment

No problem! And yes, they are very interesting, once they land themselves and bury under a bit, it's like they almost vanish

Thanks for the clarification :-) I found these fish so interesting to watch as they burrowed into the gravel on the bottom of the aquarium!

Wonderful photos! I'm almost 100% certain that this is a leopard flounder, especially since in the second photo you can see that fin on their side (the pectoral fin) that has become almost like a few strands of string! They are very pretty fish, and it's neat that you got a photo of it trying to camouflage too :)

Accelerate our Mission to Photograph
Every Species in the World!

Butterflies icon

Become a Community Sponsor

Wildlife Community

Wildlife Community

Join a worldwide community passionate about wildlife and nature!

Join Project Noah

Nature School

Nature School

Transform your green space into a curiosity-creating nature classroom!

Visit Nature School

Wildlife Game

Wildlife Game

Defend wildlife throughout the jungle in thrilling nature game!