The arrowtooth flounder (''Atheresthes stomas'') is a fish in the family Pleuronectidae. It can be caught from the Bering Sea to

Santa Rosa Island, California Santa Rosa Island (Spanish: ''Isla de Santa Rosa''; Chumash: ''Wi'ma'') is the second largest of the Channel Islands of California at 53,195 acres (215.27 km2 or 83.118 sq mi). Santa Rosa is located about off the coast of Santa Barbara, C ...

. At present, it is the most common fish in the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...

. Data is insufficient for many of the flounder's general traits, including size and age of sexual maturity.

Spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...

is known to occur from December through February and the species can live up to 27 years. If not properly handled, the flesh of an arrowtooth flounder can soften, due to a

proteolytic Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acids. Uncatalysed, the hydrolysis of peptide bonds is extremely slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteolysis is typically catalysed by cellular enzymes called protease ...

enzyme which is emitted from a

myxosporea Myxosporea is a class of microscopic parasites, belonging to the Myxozoa clade within Cnidaria. They have a complex life cycle which comprises vegetative forms in two hosts, an aquatic invertebrate (generally an annelid but sometimes a bryozoa ...

n parasite that softens the flesh when heated, lowering value and marketability. To make it more marketable, arrowtooth is usually sold on the West Coast as

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 ...

, although it is not related to the true turbot. Additives have been created to combat the softening of flesh, creating economic feasibility for the catching of the flounder.

References

External links

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Commercial Utilization of Arrowtooth Flounder
arrowtooth flounder Fish of the Bering Sea Fauna of Western Canada Fauna of the Northwestern United States Commercial fish arrowtooth flounder {{Pleuronectiformes-stub