The small-mouth righteye flounder (''Nematops microstoma'') 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 saltwater bottoms from depths of . Its natural habitat is the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

waters of the southwest Pacific. It can grow up to in length.

Range

As of 2011 the small-mouth righteye flounder has been discovered at only two locations, both in the southwest Pacific: the Admiralty Islands, where it was first described by Albert Günther in 1880, and the

Gilbert Islands The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...

Description

The large-scale right-eye flounder is, as its name suggests, a right-eyed flatfish. It has a slender body, 2.3 times long as it is wide, with a short

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

Diet

The diet of the large-scale right-eye flounder consists of small zoobenthos organisms.

Nomenclature

The species name, ''microstoma'', is derived from the Greek ''μικρὸς'' (''mikros''), meaning "small", and ''στόμα'' (''stoma''), meaning "mouth".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:flounder, righteye, small-mouth small-mouth righteye flounder small-mouth righteye flounder small-mouth righteye flounder