''Scophthalmus maeoticus'' (Black Sea turbot or kalkan) is a

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scophthalmidae The Scophthalmidae are a family of flatfish found in the North Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Black Sea.Chanet, B. (2003)Interrelationships of scophthalmid fishes (Pleuronectiformes: Scopththalmidae).''Cybium'' 27(4) 275-86. ...

. It is widespread in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the

turbot The turbot (''Scophthalmus maximus'') is a relatively large species of flatfish in the family Scophthalmidae. It is a demersal fish native to marine or brackish waters of the Northeast Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It is an ...

, ''Scophthalmus maximus'', which is common in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

.Bailly N., Chanet B. (2010) ''Scophthalmus'' Rafinesque, 1810: The valid generic name for the turbot, ''S. maximus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) leuronectiformes: Scophthalmidae Cybium, 34(3): 257-261. The taxonomic status of this species is under discussion. It is an important commercial species.

References

External links

* maeoticus Commercial fish Fish of the Black Sea Fish described in 1814 Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas {{Pleuronectiformes-stub