European Flounder

Size: Up to 50 cm.

Lifespan: Up to 20 years.

Food: Bottom-dwellers like mussels, bristle worms, crustaceans and small fish.

Sharp lumps on its back

Can you see that the flounder looks like a plaice? It can even have red spots on its back just like a plaice. In the middle of its back it has lots of rough, sharp lumps. They continue along the fin down to the anal fin. Flounder is fished in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Many people like to eat smoked flounder. The flounder is Öland’s provincial fish. 

The eye moves to the other side

When a flounder hatches from its egg, it looks like a miniature version of a “normal fish” – with one eye on each side of its head. When the flounder has grown somewhat a transformation occurs and one eye “migrates” across to the other side. After that, the flounder lives on the bottom.

When flounders are young they can live in fresh water. They sometimes swim up rivers and streams. When it is time to spawn, the fish swim back to the sea and salt water. They then stay there for the rest of their life. 

Distribution in Sweden

Bohuslän to the Stockholm archipelago, sometimes the Gulf of Bothnia.


White marking = Distribution

Threat based on the Red List

Trade regulations

CITES: Not listed.