Prof. Dr. Kees Groenendijk, Niederlande
Info
What do flatfish and squid have in common? They are masters of camouflage, and this is especially true of Bothus leopardinus, a master of camouflage, as can be seen in the main photo of this entry.
Camouflage serves to reduce the visibility of living beings or objects by altering their appearance so that they blend in with their surroundings.
Bothus leopardinus is light to dark brown and has numerous star-shaped light spots, often blue, some with dark centers arranged in circles.
The body of the flounder is flat and strongly compressed; the eyes are on the left side of the head.
The Pacific leopard flounder has a black spot in its mouth, which is visible through the skin under the lower eye. The eyes are light to dark brown with small, diffuse, lighter spots.
There are different size specifications for the Pacific leopard flounder on the internet. Dominant males are said to reach up to 39 cm, but we could not find any scientific sources for this, so we are sticking to the FishBase specification of 23.5 cm.
(It is conceivable that it could be confused with Bothus pantherinus (Rüppell, 1830), the panther flounder, which reaches 39 cm but occurs in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific) see https://www.fishi-pedia.com/fishes/bothus-pantherinus
To explore the food spectrum of Bothus leopardinus, the stomachs of 579 fish were examined:
Only 262 had any contents, and the food consisted of 27 food categories: 17 crustaceans, 3 mollusks, 3 fish, 3 polychaetes, and 1 remnant of an anemone. The main components, measured in %W values, were crustaceans, followed by fish: Penaeidae (prawns) (16.0%), Portunidae (swimming crabs) (11.5%), Alpheidae (snapping shrimp) (8.3%), Brachyura larvae (crabs) (6.9%) and fish (~22.0%), especially from the Paralichthydae family (flounders) (9.5%).
Potential predators:
Since Bothus leopardinus can adapt perfectly to the sea floor, it is not primarily preyed upon by predators that track their prey visually or by movement, but rather by rays or sharks, which can detect their victims even when hidden in the sand using electrical impulses (electroreceptors) such as the ampullae of Lorenzini.
Bothus leopardinus is available in specialist shops and, despite its rather small size, requires a large tank with plenty of sand, rubble, gravel, and broken shells.
Synonym: Rhomboidichthys leopardinus Günther, 1862 · unaccepted
Camouflage serves to reduce the visibility of living beings or objects by altering their appearance so that they blend in with their surroundings.
Bothus leopardinus is light to dark brown and has numerous star-shaped light spots, often blue, some with dark centers arranged in circles.
The body of the flounder is flat and strongly compressed; the eyes are on the left side of the head.
The Pacific leopard flounder has a black spot in its mouth, which is visible through the skin under the lower eye. The eyes are light to dark brown with small, diffuse, lighter spots.
There are different size specifications for the Pacific leopard flounder on the internet. Dominant males are said to reach up to 39 cm, but we could not find any scientific sources for this, so we are sticking to the FishBase specification of 23.5 cm.
(It is conceivable that it could be confused with Bothus pantherinus (Rüppell, 1830), the panther flounder, which reaches 39 cm but occurs in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific) see https://www.fishi-pedia.com/fishes/bothus-pantherinus
To explore the food spectrum of Bothus leopardinus, the stomachs of 579 fish were examined:
Only 262 had any contents, and the food consisted of 27 food categories: 17 crustaceans, 3 mollusks, 3 fish, 3 polychaetes, and 1 remnant of an anemone. The main components, measured in %W values, were crustaceans, followed by fish: Penaeidae (prawns) (16.0%), Portunidae (swimming crabs) (11.5%), Alpheidae (snapping shrimp) (8.3%), Brachyura larvae (crabs) (6.9%) and fish (~22.0%), especially from the Paralichthydae family (flounders) (9.5%).
Potential predators:
Since Bothus leopardinus can adapt perfectly to the sea floor, it is not primarily preyed upon by predators that track their prey visually or by movement, but rather by rays or sharks, which can detect their victims even when hidden in the sand using electrical impulses (electroreceptors) such as the ampullae of Lorenzini.
Bothus leopardinus is available in specialist shops and, despite its rather small size, requires a large tank with plenty of sand, rubble, gravel, and broken shells.
Synonym: Rhomboidichthys leopardinus Günther, 1862 · unaccepted
