Starry Flounder

Platichthys stellatus

Starry Flounder

Platichthys stellatus

Other Common Names
Rough jacket; grindstone

Sandy Coast

Other Common Names

Rough jacket; grindstone

At the Aquarium

Sandy Coast

Appearance

Starry flounders have large, rough, star-shaped scales on their eyed side. The dorsal, caudal, and anal fins of this flatfish have distinctive black and yellow banding.

Habitat

Usually found nearshore over sandy or muddy bottoms though can be found to depths of nearly 2,000 feet.

Diet

Eat a variety of prey, including crabs, shrimp, brittle shrimp, and small fish, with mollusks and worms making up most of their diet.

Life History

Spawn inshore in winter and spring, releasing floating eggs that are 0.04 inches to 0.5 inches in length. Larvae hatch at just 0.8 inches long and still have their yolk sac for the first 4-5 days of life. These fish undergo metamorphosis at 0.4 to 0.5 inches long, at around 24 days of age, settling in estuary or nearshore waters. Many young will also enter into the fresh waters of rivers. Starry flounder can reach 36 inches long and live past 42 years.

IUCN Status

Least Concern

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Native Americans in Willapa Bay, Washington would fish for starry flounder by using their feet to pin them against the sand, then reaching down to grab the fish. These fish are important members of marine food webs. Juveniles are eaten by wading and diving seabirds, including herons and cormorants. Adults are eaten by white sturgeon, leopard sharks and spiny dogfish, harbor and ringed seals, Steller sea lions, and beluga whales.

Arctic Ocean and Western Pacific, in the Eastern Pacific: Alaska to California

Starry flounder can be caught while recreationally shore or pier fishing.

Though these fish are classified as right-eyed flatfish, their eye can migrate either way. In California, about half are left-eyed, while in Alaska they are mostly left-eyed. Starry flounders live much longer in cold Arctic waters, up to 42 years, but only up to 8 years in California and up to 21 years in the Sea of Japan.

Citations & Other Resources

IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species website: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/19014407/159717244
Love, Milton S. Certainly more than you want to know about the fishes of the Pacific Coast: a postmodern experience. Really Big Press: Santa Barbara. 2011. 649 pp. ISBN 978-0-9628725-6-3.
Mola Marine e-book: Flatfish Made Easy by Gregory C. Jensen: https://molamarine.com/assets/images/flatfish%20made%20easy.pdf
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan: https://www.pcouncil.org/documents/2019/06/groundfish-fmp-appendix-b-part-2.pdf/

Starry Flounder

Starry Flounder

Other Common Names

At the Aquarium

Appearance

Habitat

Diet

Life History

IUCN Status

Ecosystem & Cultural Importance

Citations & Other Resources

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