The slender sole (''Lyopsetta exilis'') is a

flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish order (biology), order Pleuronectiformes, also called the Heterosomata, sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the ...

of the family

Pleuronectidae Pleuronectidae, also known as righteye flounders, are a family of flounders. They are called "righteye flounders" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their left sides, with both eyes on their right sides. The Paralichthyidae are the op ...

. It is a

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

fish that lives on bottoms near rocky areas at depths of between . Its native habitat is the eastern Pacific coast, from the mouth of the

Alsek River The Alsek River (; Tlingit ''Aalseix̱' '') is a wilderness river flowing from Yukon into Northern British Columbia and into Alaska. It enters the Gulf of Alaska at Dry Bay. Most of the Alsek River's basin is within protected wilderness areas an ...

in Alaska in the north to Isla Cedros in Baja California, Mexico in the south. It can reach up to in length.

Diet

The slender sole's diet consists of zoobenthos crustaceans such as krill, mysids,

amphipod Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descr ...

s and

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

s, as well as marine worms and some fish.

Commercial fishing

The slender sole is harvested by the commercial fishing industry, and is considered to be a good food fish, but it is not landed in significant quantities due to its small size.

References

Pleuronectidae Fish of the Pacific Ocean Western North American coastal fauna Fish described in 1880 Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Charles Henry Gilbert {{Pleuronectiformes-stub