Measled Flounder

The measled flounder is a right-eyed flatfish with both eyes on a mottled brown upper side scattered with small dark specks that give it its name, and a pale blind underside. Like all flatfish it lies flat on the bottom, its body flattened sideways and settled eye-up on the sand.

Endemic to South African waters, it ranges from the Western Cape around to KwaZulu-Natal over sandy and muddy bottoms, where it buries lightly and ambushes small invertebrates and fish. Divers on sand flats may only notice it when it shifts and its outline lifts from the seabed; it is harmless and taken mainly as bycatch.