#2093 · 🐟 fish
European Flounder
🇳🇱 Bot ·Platichthys flesus
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Gonzalo Mucientes Sandoval · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Pierre Corbrion · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 3. © Micha Baum · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. © Rita Jansen · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 5. © Stamatis Zogaris · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © fx · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 7. © Perba · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Alex · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Michael Verdirame · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Eric van den Berghe · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The European flounder ( Platichthys flesus ) is a flatfish of European coastal waters from the White Sea in the north to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea in the south. It has been introduced into the United States and Canada accidentally through transport in ballast water. It is caught and used for human consumption.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 63 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #22 most seen of the fish in NL.
- 1,324 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- European Flounder
- Nederlands
- Bot
- scientific name
- Platichthys flesus
- class
- Actinopterygii
- order
- Carangiformes
- family
- Pleuronectidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 63
- sightings in Europe
- 751
- sightings worldwide
- 1,324
- GBIF records in NL
- 69,943
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Pleuronectidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 109631, Wikidata Q214034, GBIF 2409330, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.