Pleuronectidae

European plaice, Pleuronectes platessa

The Pleuronectidae are a family of flatfish that are widely known as righteye flounders. The reason why they're called like that is because most species lie on the seabed on their left sides, with both eyes on their right sides. Only a few species can also have their eyes on the left side. Females lay eggs that float in mid-water until the larvae develop, and they sink to the bottom.

They are found on the bottoms of oceans around the world. The name of the family is derived from the Greek πλευρά (pleura), meaning "rib" or "side", and νηκτόν (nekton), meaning "swimming".

References

1. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2012). "Pleuronectidae" in FishBase. October 2012 version.
2. Eschmeyer W.N.; Herald, E.S.; and Hammann, H. (1983). A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes. Peterson Field Guides. ISBN 978-0618002122

Taxon identifiers	Wikidata: Q647087 Wikispecies: Pleuronectidae ADW: Pleuronectidae AFD: Pleuronectidae BioLib: 16145 BOLD: 1126 CoL: 62649 EoL: 5173 EPPO: 1PLEUF Fauna Europaea: 12086 Fauna Europaea (new): 7daae0c2-5687-43d0-9fc1-fd8309f77721 Fossilworks: 266151 GBIF: 8611 iNaturalist: 47525 IRMNG: 114732 ITIS: 172859 NBN: NBNSYS0000160746 NCBI: 8256 NZOR: 551c0b2f-e30e-4373-84dc-75642e7bc6c8 WoRMS: 125579