What is the difference between a summer and winter flounder?

I would suggest laying it flat on a surface with the head facing your left hand. A summer flounder will have their eyes swiveled to the top of their heads and their mouth will be under their eyes.  Their mouth will actually also extend behind their eyes. A winter flounder will have their eyes closer to you while their mouth would then be above their eyes. Also, their mouth is considerably smaller and doesn’t go past their eyes.

Flounder are born with a body type in balanced symmetry, in other words , looking like normal fish. As they continue to grow, their bodies morph to the left or right so their eyes and mouth are on one side. Then they rest on the bottom of the ocean floor on the other side.

That explains that flounder are flat fish with their eyes and mouth on one side of their head. Now, whether the eyes and mouth morphed left or right will be the answer to the question.

OK, quite simply if you were to catch a flat fish and think of only these two options (summer or winter flounder) I would suggest laying it flat on a surface with the head to your left a summer flounder will have their eyes swiveled to the top of their heads and their mouth will be under their eyes.  Their mouth will actually also extend behind their eyes. A winter flounder will have their eyes closer to you while their mouth would then be above their eyes. Also, their mouth is considerably smaller and doesn’t go past their eyes.

Please keep in mind that there are Gulf flounder and bunch of others, but we will keep it simple.

Summer flounder are generally darker. But, that type of answer doesn’t help when you have nothing to compare.

So, test your knowledge and leave a comment to answer this question: What type of flounder is pictured above? (And it is facing right to throw you off base.)

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