Bothus robinsi
Twospot Flounder
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Pleuronectfiormes (Flatfishes)
Bothidae (Lefteye Flounders)
Bothus
Bothus robinsi (Twospot Flounder)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Deep bodied, with small mouth, widely separated eyes, and two horizontally arranged spots on caudal fin. Mouth is downturned, with upper jaw extending posteriorly to or slightly beyond anterior margin of lower eye. Jaw teeth are small and sharp pointed and arranged in two rows. Males have a sharp-pointed spine on snout. Distance between eyes is about equal to eye width in adult females and about 2 times eye width in adult males, but less than eye width in juveniles. Eyes lack fleshy ridges. Gill rakers on first arch of ocular side are short and number two to seven on upper limb and five to nine on lower limb. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 23%–28%, snout length 4%–6%, eye diameter 6%–7%, upper jaw length 5%–8%, ocular-side pectoral fin length 21%–32%, body depth 65%–76%. Pectoral fin on ocular side has 8 to 11 rays and is longer than blind-side fin. Uppermost pectoral fin rays on ocular side are elongated in mature males. Dorsal fin has 78 to 90 rays. Base of pelvic fin on ocular side extends to tip of urohyal. Anal fin originates anterior to pectoral fin base and has 59 to 68 rays. Caudal fin is bluntly pointed. Scales are ctenoid on ocular side and cycloid on blind side. Lateral line is arched over pectoral fin on ocular side, and lateral line scales number 70 to 77. Precaudal vertebrae number 10, and caudal vertebrae number 26 to 28.
Color on ocular side is light tan, with brown spotting and mottling, or dark brown, without spotting and mottling. Caudal fin has two horizontally arranged dark spots along median rays.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from North Carolina and Bermuda to Brazil, including the entire Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and the Antilles.
Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Soft bottoms, between 18 and 91 m
Soft bottoms
Biology
Food consists of bryozoans, brachiopods, ophiuroids, chaetognaths, scaphopods, gastropods, bivalves, polychaetes, isopods, shrimps (carideans and penaeids), and crabs (majids, galatheids, and pagurids). Feeding takes place during daylight.
Maximum known size is 222 mm SL, but specimens greater than 150 mm are rare.
Occurs in bays, lagoons, and shallow coastal waters. Found on soft bottoms of continental shelf to a depth of about 90 m, more common between 10-50 m (Ref. 5217). Feeds on crustaceans, polychaetes and mollusks (Ref. 36453).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-22. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial.
References
Gutherz 1967 (as Bothus sp.)
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968 (as Bothus sp.)
Topp and Hoff 1972
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Matsuura 1983p (as Bothus sp.)
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Cervigón 1993a
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Munroe 2002a
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Cervigón, F., R. Cipriani, W. Fischer, L. Garibaldi, M. Hendrickx, A.J. Lemus, R. Márquez, J.M. Poutiers, G. Robaina and B. Rodriguez (1992) Fichas FAO de identificación de especies para los fines de la pesca. Guía de campo de las especies comerciales marinas y de aquas salobres de la costa septentrional de Sur América. FAO, Rome. 513 p. Preparado con el financiamento de la Comisión de Comunidades Europeas y de NORAD.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Figueiredo, J.L. and N.A. Menezes (2000) Manual de peixes marinhos do sudeste do Brasil. VI.Teleostei (5). Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo. Brazil. 116 p.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
Topp, R. W. and F. H. Hoff Jr. (1972) Flatfishes (Pleuronectiformes). Memoirs of the hourglass cruises 2(4):1-135.
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