Description: A flatfish of the family Bothidae (left-eye flounders), with large eyes for their size. Males have a larger head and eyes placed farther apart than females. Like other flatfishes, they can change their colouration pattern to match the substrate.
Global Distribution: Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic from Mauritania to Angola, including Madeira, Canary Islands and Cape Verde. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 45.0 cm (total length); common length 13.0 cm (TL); maximum published weight 700.0 g.
Reproduction: Reproduction occurs between May and August. During courtship, the male will place himself under the female and push her upwards, swimming alongside them.
Maturity:
Behavioural ecology: They mostly lie flat on the substrate or bury themselves in sand.
Population structure & migrations: Some authors consider the population inhabiting Madeira and the Canary islands to be a subspecies, Bothus podas maderensis.
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 15 - 400 m.
Habitat: Demersal. Found in shallow waters, over sandy and muddy bottoms of the continental plateau.
Feeding habits: Feeds on small benthic fishes and invertebrates such as crustaceans and polychaetes. They sometimes follow other benthic-feeding fish such as surmullets (Mullus surmuletus) to capture prey that they uncover.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.4
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
González J., Hernández C., Marrero P., Rapp E. (2000). Peces de Canarias: GuÃa Submarina (5th edition). Francisco Lemus Editor, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, Spain, 235 pp.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Mata A.J., Morales J., Marquez L. (2008). Weight–length relationships for 26 demersal fish species of the Spanish Southâ€Atlantic coastal waters. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 24(3): 330-333.
Morato T., Afonso P., Lourinho P., Barreiros J.P., Santos R.S., Nash R.D.M. (2001). Length–weight relationships for 21 coastal fish species of the Azores, north-eastern Atlantic. Fisheries Research, 50(3): 297-302.
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
