American sole

American soles
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Pleuronectiformes
Suborder:	Soleoidei
Family:	Achiridae Rafinesque, 1810
Genera[1]
Achirus Apionichthys Catathyridium Gymnachirus Hypoclinemus Pnictes Trinectes

The American soles are a family (Achiridae) of flatfish occurring in both freshwater and marine environments of the Americas. The family includes about 35 species in seven genera. These are closely related to the soles (Soleidae), and have been classified as a subfamily of it, but achirids have a number of distinct characteristics.

Eyes are on the right side, and the eyed-side lower lip has a distinctive fleshy rim. The dorsal and anal fins are usually separate from the caudal fin. The pectoral fins are small or nonexistent. They are fairly small; only Achirus achirus is known to surpass 30 cm (1 ft) in length.^[2]

References

See also

• List of fish common names
• List of fish families

Flatfish Generally larger flatfish Halibut True (2 species) Atlantic halibut Pacific halibut Other Arrowtooth halibut Shotted halibut Greenland halibut Spotted halibut California halibut Bastard halibut Plaice   (4 species) European plaice American plaice Alaska plaice Scale-eye plaice More... Turbot True (1 species) Scophthalmus maximus Spiny (3 species) Psettodidae Other Diamond turbot Hornyhead turbot New Zealand turbot Ocellated turbot Spotted turbot Generally smaller flatfish Sole True (135 species) Common (Dover) sole Finless sole Soleichthys heterorhinos Yellow sole More... American (28 species) Achiridae More... Tongue (138 species) Bengal tongue sole Canary tonguesole Carrot tonguesole Cynoglossus suyeni Durban tonguesole Fourline tonguesole Fourlined tonguesole Ghanaian tonguesole Hooked tonguesole Largescale tonguesole Natal tongue-fish Nigerian tonguesole Ripplefin tonguesole River tonguesole Roundhead toungesole Sand tonguefish Sharpnose tonguesole Southern tongue sole Speckled tonguesole Symphurus thermophilus Three-lined tongue sole More... Other Butter sole Curlfin sole Deepsea sole Dusky sole English sole Flathead sole Lemon sole New Zealand sole Northern rock sole Pacific sand sole Petrale sole Rex sole Rock sole Roughscale sole Slender sole Southern lemon sole Speckled sole Yellowfin sole Other flounder Lefteye (158 species) Crested flounder Flowery flounder Leopard flounder Plate fish Mediterranean scaldfish Twospot flounder Witch More... Righteye (101 species) American smooth flounder Arctic flounder Arrowtooth flounder Banded-fin flounder Barfin flounder Black flounder Blackfin flounder Bering flounder Cleisthenes herzensteini Cleisthenes pinetorum Comb flounder Cresthead flounder Derwent flounder European flounder Far Eastern smooth flounder Flathead flounder Greenback flounder Hypsopsetta macrocephala Indonesian ocellated flounder Kamchatka flounder Large-scale righteye flounder Marbled flounder Marleyella maldivensis Microstomus shuntovi Narrow-body righteye flounder New Zealand flounder Peltorhamphus tenuis Peppered flounder Pseudopleuronectes obscurus Remo flounder Ridged-eye flounder Sakhalin sole Slime flounder Small-mouth righteye flounder Speckled flounder Starry flounder Stone flounder Willowy flounder Winter flounder Witch (righteye) Yellow striped flounder Yellowbelly flounder Yellowtail flounder More... Large tooth (115 species) Anglefin whiff Bigmouth sanddab California halibut Cephalopsetta ventrocellatus Fine flounder Five-eyed flounder Five-rayed sanddab Fourspot flounder Gray flounder Gulf sanddab Horned whiff Longfin sanddab Mimic sanddab Olive flounder Pacific sanddab Peacock flounder Sand whiff Shrimp flounder Small sanddab Speckled sanddab Spotfin flounder Three-eye flounder Thysanopsetta naresi Veracruz whiff More... Southern (6 species) Antarctic armless flounder Armless flounder Finless flounder Paralichthys lethostigma Southern flounder More... Other Citharidae Samaridae Misc   Common dab Chinese brill Deepwater dab Longhead dab New Zealand brill Scale-eye plaice Fluke Related Demersal fish Transitional fossils Amphistium Heteronectes As food Sole meunière Turbot War Predator billfish bonito mackerel salmon shark tuna Forage anchovy herring menhaden sardine shad sprat Demersal cod flatfish pollock ray