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Xystreurys liolepis

Fantail Sole
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

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Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Pleuronectfiormes (Flatfishes) Paralichthyidae (Sand Flounders) Xystreurys Xystreurys liolepis (Fantail Sole)

Description

This species account was compiled from FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Body shape: short and / or deep.

Distribution

Eastern Pacific: Monterey Bay in California, USA to Gulf of California.

Habitat Associations

Marine. demersal. depth range 5-79 m.

Biology

Inhabits muddy and sandy bottoms, from 4.6-79 m depth. Usually buried in bottoms. Feeds almost exclusively on crustaceans. Marketed fresh (Ref. 9330).
Max length: 63.5 cm TL; common length: 25.0 cm TL; max weight: 3990 g.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Oviparous (Ref. 101737). Distinct pairing (Ref. 205). Females produce numerous eggs in multiple spawnings during a prolonged spawning period (Ref. 101737).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-11-14. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish.

References

Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Hensley, D.A. (1995) Paralichthyidae. Lenguados. p. 1349-1380. In W. Fischer, F. Krupp, W. Schneider, C. Sommer, K.E. Carpenter and V. Niem (eds.) Guia FAO para Identification de Especies para lo Fines de la Pesca. Pacifico Centro-Oriental. 3 Vols. FAO, Rome.
IGFA (2001) Database of IGFA angling records until 2001. IGFA, Fort Lauderdale, USA.
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.
Moser, H.G. and B.Y. Sumida (1996) Paralichthyidae: Lefteye flounders and sanddabs. p. 1325-1355. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current Region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505 p.

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