Flatfish
Plaice
Pleuronectes platessa
Pleuronectes platessa Linnaeus, 1758 · Pleuronectidae WoRMS 127143
Reference photos
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Right-eyed flatfish with bright orange spots scattered across a brown back.
Depth
0-200 m, most common between 10 and 50 m
Size
Up to 100 cm, though 50-60 cm is the usual limit and exceptional fish reach 90 cm; commonly around 40 cm
Habitat
Sandy bottoms, also gravel and mud, and sandy patches in rocky areas; young fish spend their first year in very shallow water and sandy tidal pools
Behaviour
Lies quietly on the bottom for long periods, often partly buried in sand, and can change colour to suit the bottom; spawning migrations can be long
Diet
I eat
- Bottom-living shellfish, particularly cockles and razor shells, and thin-shelled molluscs generally; young fish take bivalve siphon tips protruding from the seabed
- Polychaete worms, the other mainstay of the diet alongside thin-shelled molluscs
- Brittlestars and other echinoderms, small crustaceans such as shrimps, and small fish including sandeels
Eats me
- Grey seals, for which plaice is a significant part of the diet, and other marine mammals including harbour seal and harbour porpoise
- Larger predatory fish, including cod, conger eel, anglerfish and thornback ray
- Shrimps, whose predation on larvae and juveniles can be very substantial; large adults are at much lower risk because of their size
Where you'd find it
Found all around Britain and Ireland, so you have a chance of seeing it anywhere on the coast.
Sources
Open-access references behind this page. Every statement on this page was read out of one of them; anything that could not be traced to a source was taken off the page rather than left standing. Each link was checked on the date shown, and confirmed then to be about this species.
Ghent University, Faculty of Sciences (with ILVO and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences); open copy hosted by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) (2023)
Paperlink checked 2026-08-30
A review of the European flounder Platichthys flesus: Biology, Life History and Trends in Population
Eastern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (report prepared at Newcastle University) (2010)
Weblink checked 2026-08-30
Food Items - Pleuronectes platessa (FishBase food-item records)
FishBase
FishBaselink checked 2026-08-30
Predators - Pleuronectes platessa (FishBase predator records)
FishBase
FishBaselink checked 2026-08-30
Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa)
Marine Life Information Network, Marine Biological Association of the UK
MarLINlink checked 2026-08-30
Marine Life Information Network, Marine Biological Association of the UK
MarLINlink checked 2026-08-30
Pleuronectes platessa Linnaeus, 1758
World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board)
TaxonomyCC BY 4.0link checked 2026-08-30
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