Bothidae
Family of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bothidae or lefteye flounders are a family of flounders. They are called "lefteye flounders" because most species lie on the sea bottom on their right sides, with both eyes on their left sides.[1] The family is also distinguished by the presence of spines on the snout and near the eyes.[2]
| Lefteye flounders Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scaldfish, Arnoglossus laterna | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Carangiformes |
| Suborder: | Pleuronectoidei |
| Family: | Bothidae Smitt, 1892 |
| Type genus | |
| Bothus Rafinesque, 1810 | |
| Genera | |
|
See text | |
Lefteye flounders vary considerably in size between the more than 160 species, ranging from 4.5 cm (1.8 in) to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in length.[2]
Taxonomy
The following genera are placed in this family:
- Arnoglossus
- Asterorhombus
- Bothus
- Chascanopsetta
- Crossorhombus
- Engyprosopon
- Japonolaeops
- Kamoharaia
- Laeops
- Lophonectes
- Neolaeops
- Parabothus
- Psettina
- Tosarhombus
The following fossil genera are also known:
- †Miobothus Chanet & Schultz, 1994 (Middle Miocene of Austria)[3]
- †Oligobothus Baciu & Chanet, 2002 (Early Oligocene of Romania and Poland)[4][5]
- †Oranobothus Chanet, 1996 (latest Miocene of Algeria)[6]
In 2025, a number of bothid genera were moved to their own families Monolenidae, Grammatobothidae, and Taeniopsettidae, after phylogenetic analyses noted the taxonomic complexity of this family. Many other genera within this family are likely paraphyletic.[7]
Gallery
Scaldfish (Arnoglossus laterna) larva
Wide-eyed flounder, Bothus podas
Laeops macrophthalmus
See also
- Pleuronectidae, the righteye family of flounders