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How does a flounder adapt to its environment?
Adaptation: a special feature that helps an animal survive in its habitat. For example: flounder can change color to blend in with the bottom of the ocean. Camouflage: a type of adaptation that allows animals to blend in with their surroundings.
What are flounders habitat?
The flounder dwells at the bottom of oceans and seas near docks, bridges, and coral reefs. Its main areas of occupancy include the tropical and temperate waters along the coasts of Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia.
How is the peacock flounder fish adapted to survive?
Peacock flounders change color to camouflage with their surroundings to reduce the chances of being noticed by their predators, so they don’t get eaten, and their preys, so they can creep up and hunt their prey. They are able to change color in a matter of seconds to adapt to the environment change.
What affects the color of a flounder?
Some flounders have a kind of skin cells called chromatophores (krow-MAT-uh-forz). Chromatophores contain colors, or pigments, that can change the skin’s appearance. These cells change because they get a message from the brain . When flounders swim near the surface to feed, their skin becomes almost see-through.
Do flounders change color?
Flounder can change colour to adapt to their situation unless they’re blind, why is this? These animals all use groups of pigmented cells in the skin collectively called ‘chromatophores’ to alter their colour and simulate their surroundings.
What do flounders eat?
fish
Larval and post-larval flounder feed on zooplankton (tiny floating animals) and small crustaceans. Juveniles eat crustaceans and fish. Adults are opportunistic feeders, eating whatever food is convenient at the time, and feed mostly on fish and crustaceans.
Can flounders change color?
In a study, peacock flounders demonstrated the ability to change colors in just eight seconds. They were even able to match the pattern of a checkerboard they were placed on. The changing of the colors is an extremely complex and not well understood process. It involves the flounder’s vision and hormones.
Do flounders change Colour?
How are flounder fish adapted to their habitat?
Lying almost motionless along the sandy ocean or seafloor, the flounder fish waits patiently for a tasty meal to come by so it can feed. Its entire lifestyle and physical appearance are oriented around the bottom-dwelling habitat. This is an incredible display of evolutionary ingenuity.
Where do flounder fish go after they spawn?
Flounder Fish Facts. Some species migrate from deeper waters to the coastal breeding grounds, while others move along the coast to their preferred spawning site. After spawning, the eggs are deposited by the females, where they float in the water due to a small oil bubble present in every egg.
Where do flounders live in the deep sea?
All of the various species live in demersal habitats, or habitats along the bottom of the sea. Each species has its own unique preferences. Some live closer to shore, others live along the continental shelf in deeper waters, and some utilize the deep sea. You can find them in bays, estuaries, beaches, and more.
What kind of body does a flounder have?
Flounders are usually brown colored with various red, orange, green and blue markings on the body. They can change the color of the body to blend with the colors of the environment in 2 to 8 seconds. Color of the body also indicates emotional state of the flounder.