The plate fish (''Bothus lunatus'') is a

flounder Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, thou ...

in the genus ''

Bothus ''Bothus'' is a genus of flatfish in the family Bothidae (lefteye flounders) from the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Some species in this genus have spots consisting of blue rings. Species There are currently 16 recognized species in this ...

'', found in the warmer parts of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

including the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. Its typical habitat is sandy plains near

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s and it is able to change its colouring to make it well-camouflaged in this environment. It is sometimes known as the peacock flounder, a name also given to the closely related ''

Bothus mancus The peacock flounder (''Bothus mancus''), also known as the flowery flounder, is a species of fish in the family Bothidae (lefteye flounders). The species is found widely in relatively shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific, also ranging into warmer ...

'' from the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

Description

''Bothus lunatus'' has a laterally flattened body and orientates itself so that its right side is underneath and its left side is uppermost. Both eyes are on this upper surface and project on short thick stalks. The body shape is rounded and the dorsal and anal fins nearly surround the body. The former has 92 to 99 soft rays and the latter 71 to 76. The pectoral fins are long and often erect. An average adult length is about , with a maximum length of . The upper surface of this flounder is some shade between grey, brown and tan with small blue spots and circular blue markings, the head and fins also being spotted and speckled with blue. There are two or three rather diffuse dark patches on the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

. The fish can vary its background colour to make it closely resemble that of its surroundings and thus camouflage itself as it lies on the seabed. Fish in this genus are able to change their colouring in two to eight seconds.

Distribution and habitat

''Bothus lunatus'' is found in tropical and subtropical parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Its range extends from Florida, the Bahamas and Bermuda to Brazil, but it is absent from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. It also occurs in the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

and

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...

. It is usually found between deep but may occur as deep as . Its typical habitat is sandy areas near

s, in

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

s or near

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

s. It is also sometimes found over rubble or hard substrates and is one of the commonest flounders near coral reefs.

Behaviour

''Bothus lunatus'' is well-camouflaged as it lies on the sandy seabed, often partially submerged in the sediment. It is more visible when it swims, which it does in a series of short glides, remaining close to the rippled sand contours of the ocean floor. In the Caribbean, a small octopus, '' Macrotritopus defilippi'',

mimics Materialise Mimics is an image processing software for 3D design and modeling, developed by Materialise NV, a Belgian company specialized in additive manufacturing software and technology for medical, dental and additive manufacturing industries ...

these bursts of swimming activity, a behaviour which might afford it protection from

predators Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

large enough to take a bite out of a soft-bodied octopus but too small to tackle a rigid flounder. In the West Indies, ''Bothus lunatus'' largely feeds on fishes, which make up 85.7% of its diet by volume, and particularly on herrings in the genus '' Jenkinsia'' and the

bigeye scad The bigeye scad (''Selar crumenophthalmus'') is an oceanic fish found in tropical regions around the globe. Other common names include purse-eyed scad, goggle-eyed scad, akule, chicharro, charrito ojón, jacks, matang baka, mushimas and coulirou ...

(''Selar crumenophthalmus''). Another 11.4% of its diet consists of

mantis shrimp Mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are carnivorous marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda (). Stomatopods branched off from other members of the class Malacostraca around 340 million years ago. Mantis shrimp typically grow to around in lengt ...

s and 2.9% of

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

es. ''Bothus lunatus'' is believed to be an

ambush predator Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals that capture or trap prey via stealth, luring or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an element of surprise. Unlike pursuit predators, who chase to capture prey us ...

, lying concealed on the seabed before darting out to catch any unwary prey that moves too close.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2753332 Bothidae Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Fish of the Atlantic Ocean