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Glyptocephalus cynoglossus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Witch flounder
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Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
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Glyptocephalus cynoglossus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Glyptocephalus cynoglossus (Witch flounder)
Glyptocephalus cynoglossus
Picture by Dolgov, A.


United States (contiguous states) country information

Common names: Craig fluke, Gray sole, Witch flounder
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: commercial | Ref: Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Present in the continental shelf waters off the northeastern United States (Ref. 37512).
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.nmfs.gov
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Pleuronectiformes (Flatfishes) > Pleuronectidae (Righteye flounders) > Microstominae
Etymology: Glyptocephalus: Greek, glyptes = carver + Greek, kephale = head (Ref. 45335).
  More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 18 - 1570 m (Ref. 5951), usually 45 - 366 m (Ref. 6263).   Temperate; 2°C - 6°C (Ref. 6263); 70°N - 36°N, 79°W - 26°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Atlantic: Gulf of St. Lawrence and Grand Banks in Canada to North Carolina in USA; Eastern Atlantic: Northern Spain to northern Norway (Ref. 7251).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 30.4  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 60.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 4705); max. published weight: 2.5 kg (Ref. 35388); max. reported age: 25 years (Ref. 6263)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 95 - 120; Anal soft rays: 85 - 102. Pectoral fin of eyed side shorter than head. Distal part of pectoral fin blackish (Ref. 232). Large mucus pores on the blind side of the head. Uniform coloration, rough scales. Body elongated with complete straight lateral line (Ref. 35388).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabits soft mud bottoms in fairly deep water (Ref. 9988). Benthic (Ref. 58426). Feeds on crustaceans, polychaetes, brittle stars (Ref. 9988) and fishes (Ref. 58426). Marketed fresh or frozen; eaten steamed, fried, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Eggs and larvae are pelagic.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Amaoka, Kunio | Collaborators

Vinnikov, K.A., R.C. Thomson and T.A. Munroe, 2018. Revised classification of the righteye flounders (Teleostei: Pleuronectidae) based on multilocus phylogeny with complete taxon sampling. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 125:147-162. (Ref. 122998)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Vulnerable (VU) (A1bd); Date assessed: 12 February 2021

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO(Fisheries: production, species profile; publication : search) | FIRMS (Stock assessments) | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items
Diet compositions
Food consumptions
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Growths
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversions
Recruitments
Abundances
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill areas
Brains
Otoliths
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
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References
References

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Internet sources

Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | RFE Identification | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 0.6 - 11.4, mean 7 (based on 1302 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.6250   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00457 (0.00365 - 0.00573), b=3.08 (3.01 - 3.15), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.2   ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.15-0.2; tmax=25).
Prior r = 0.32, 95% CL = 0.21 - 0.48, Based on 8 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High to very high vulnerability (68 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Low to moderate vulnerability (34 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.