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Project Noah Nature School
Bothus pantherinus
These fish are "side swimmers". Both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through and around the head during development. Leopard flounders use color to camouflage themselves. Bothus pantherinus takes on dull, spotted coloring to blend in with the rocky seafloor. It waits for its prey to swim by. Other times the flounder turns an almost see-through color to avoid predators when swimming near the surface.
Spotted at the Maui Aquarium
No problem! And yes, they are very interesting, once they land themselves and bury under a bit, it's like they almost vanish
Thanks for the clarification :-) I found these fish so interesting to watch as they burrowed into the gravel on the bottom of the aquarium!
Wonderful photos! I'm almost 100% certain that this is a leopard flounder, especially since in the second photo you can see that fin on their side (the pectoral fin) that has become almost like a few strands of string! They are very pretty fish, and it's neat that you got a photo of it trying to camouflage too :)
Spotted on Oct 5, 2010
Submitted on May 5, 2011
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