7 replies to this topic

[Leo1234]

What species of flounder are native to north america that go into/survive brackish water or even freshwater? It would be intresting to see how many species of flatfish there are that do this

(Intertidal, estuary, etc.)
So far I know of these:

 

Trinectes maculatus, Hogchoker
Platichthys stellatus, starry flounder

Achirus lineatus, Lined sole
Sebastes melanostomus, English sole

I'm looking up some more species

[zooxanthellae]

That is a hard to answer question, but here is a list of species of flatfish (colloquially "flounders" ) that I have caught inshore in the last year:

 

Blackcheek Tonguefish – Symphurus plagiusa

Southern Flounder – Paralichthys lethostigma

Paralicthys dentatus – Summer Flounder

Gulf Flounder – Paralichthys albigutta

Hogchoker – Trinectes maculatus

Fringed Flounder – Etropus crossotus

Spotted Whiff – Citharichthys macrops

Bay Whiff – Citharichthys spilopterus

Ocellated Flounder – Ancylopsetta ommata

Windowpane Flounder - Scophthalmus aquosus

 

 

You would be hard pressed to keep many of these fish alive in anything resembling freshwater, but they do either live in or temporarily move into NC estuaries. 

[FirstChAoS]

Smooth Flounder is found in estuaries and river mouths

[Chasmodes]

Summer flounder too in the Chesapeake, but not fresh water.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Bringing up to date

[Leo1234]

Should we post information about them too? ex: size, distribution,  etc. (maybe even how often they are found in brackish water?) feel free to add any information you want whether it is aquarium care or just about it's natural behavior and environment 

[Leo1234]

Can this be moved to brackish/salt section?

I will post some info soon

[Moontanman]

Brackish water around here contains some really neat stuff but in my experience brackish water fish need the daily coming and going of salt. They do better in pure marine environment than they do in constant brackish or fresh. Lots of marine fish start out as tiny fish in almost freshwater and move toward the ocean as they mature. In another thread someone mentioned echinoderms as being in brackish water. If they are it's in the more saline areas and probably need very close to pure marine water to survive. 

 

We even have a couple of land crabs similar to sally lightfoot crabs that seem to almost never go into the water, I know that when you chase them they run into the leaves and other flotsam along the river, they look like big spiders... Of course we have the freshwater fiddler crabs and some mud crabs that live in the fresh/salt zone.

 

I used to collect lots of marine and brackish fish when I was young, I kept several aquariums going all the time, the number of fish species that can be caught in the salt marsh is extraordinary... 

 

I wish for freshwater hermit crabs, so far my wish has remained unfulfilled