The narrow-body righteye flounder (''Nematops macrochirus'') 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 at depths of between . Its natural habitat is the waters of the Indo-West Pacific, from the Bali Strait to Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It can grow up to in length.

Etymology & taxonomy

The species name "macrochirus" is derived from the Greek: "macro" meaning "long", and "chirus" from "kheiros", meaning "hand". Although Fowler described the long-fin righteye flounder, ''Nematops chui'', in 1934, it has been shown that the morphology of ''N. chui'' overlaps completely with that of ''N. macrochirus'', and that the long-fin righteye flounder is in fact a junior description of ''N. macrochirus'' as described by Norman in 1931.

Description

The narrow-fin right-eye flounder is, as its name suggests, a right-eyed flatfish. It has a slender body, almost three times long as it is wide, with large eyes and a small symmetrical mouth. The eyes have dark tentacles. 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 ...

curves strongly above the pectoral fin, and the caudal fin is pointed. The upper (eyed) side is brown, with indistinct blotches on the fins and darker blotches on the caudal and pectoral fins. The underside is yellowish-white.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:flounder, righteye, narrow-body narrow-body righteye flounder narrow-body righteye flounder