Starry flounder, Platichthys (flat fish) stellatus (starry). One cool tidbit. The group of flounders to which this species belongs normally has both eyes on the right side of the body (dextral); one eye migrates in just a few hours to days from one side to the other during the transition from the larval (planktonic) to juvenile stage (benthic). The picture shows a left-handed specimen. Look for the paired pelvic fin to tell dorsal from ventral and then see which side the eyes are on. In Puget Sound, half of the starry's are left-eyed and half are right-eyed. In Alaska, 70% are left-eyed. Off Japan, all are left-eyed.
cabezon,
what sort of environmental pressures would lead a population to be all left-handed? Or right-handed for that matter. What is in the oceans off Japan that would give left-handers the advantage? Interesting...
