Family: Pleuronectidae, Righteye Flounders view all from this family

Description To 10' (3 m). Diamond-shaped; tail fairly long, with emarginate tail fin. Eyes on right side. Eyed side dark chocolate to grayish olive, with irregular buffy blotches. Lateral line has distinct, moderate to strong arch in front. Continuous fringing dorsal and anal fins on sides of body. 75-107 dorsal fin rays. Head pointed; large mouth.

Habitat Sandy and gravelly bottoms, 200–3,000' (60-900 m) deep.

Range Atlantic Ocean from Labrador to Virginia.

Discussion This is a slow-growing flatfish and old individuals can be huge. All flatfishes are born with one eye on either side of the head, like any other vertebrate, but as they develop one eye moves to the opposite side. Atlantic Halibut is in the righteye flounder family (family Pleuronectidae), and most have their eyes on the right side (except for the occasional individual with eyes on the "wrong" side).