arrow-tooth flounder

Open encyclopedia reference

The arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) is a fish in the family Pleuronectidae. It can be caught from the Bering Sea to Santa Rosa Island, California. At present, it is the most common fish in the Gulf of Alaska. Data is insufficient for many of the flounder's general traits, including size and age of sexual maturity. Spawning is known to occur from December through February and the species can live up to 27 years.

If not properly handled, the flesh of an arrowtooth flounder can soften, due to a proteolytic enzyme which is emitted from a myxosporean parasite that softens the flesh when heated, lowering value and marketability. To make it more marketable, arrowtooth is usually sold on the West Coast as turbot, although it is not related to the true turbot. Additives have been created to combat the softening of flesh, creating economic feasibility for the catching of the flounder.

Wikipedia contributors, Arrowtooth flounder; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:46:27.173692+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Atheresthes stomias (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880)

Name authority

(Jordan & Gilbert, 1880)

Common name

arrow-tooth flounder

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Pleuronectiformes

Family

Pleuronectidae

Genus

Atheresthes

Extinction status

Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderPleuronectiformes
11. suborderPleuronectoidei
12. familyPleuronectidae Rafinesque, 1815
13. subfamilyPleuronectinae Rafinesque, 1815
14. genusAtheresthes Jordan & Gilbert, 1880
15. speciesAtheresthes stomias (Jordan & Gilbert, 1880)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Atheresthes. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 86 records assigned to Pleuronectidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=279792 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:67VC7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.