Awesome Flounder Adaptations
Flatfish species have some of the coolest adaptations of all animal species. Flounder have an extremely unusual adaptation to them. When a flounder or any flatfish species is born, it's born with one eye on each side of its head and is normal size. When it gets a bit older it lays on the ocean floor either on the right side or left side of its body. Depending on which side it lays on, the eye on the side facing downward, will "migrate" to the other side of the head making it a horizontal fish. For example, if the fish decides to lay on its right side, the right eye will move to the left side making it a Left-Eyed Flounder, and vice versa.
Although the eyes move, sometimes the mouth does not rotate giving it a very unusual appearance as you can see above. Another unique adaptation is its size. Flatfish are close to the top of the marine food chain with sharks and whales on top, and of course us. Sharks are vicious and won't give up on eating anything once spotted. Being thin allows flatfish to bury themselves under the sand and poke their eyes out and sneak up on prey and when they get to close they come out of the sand and eat the smaller fish. It is during the period of time when the eye is migrating that it gets thinner. A cool fact about flounders is that they swim horizontally.