Author: Risso, 1810
Solea lascaris Risso, 1810
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Pegusa lascaris (Risso, 1810) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body oval. Upper eye about its own diameter or a little more from dorsal profile of head. Anterior nostril on blind side enlarged, rosette-shaped, close to posterior nostril; anterior nostril on eyed side with a backward-pointing tube hardly reaching front border of lower eye. Dorsal fin beginning on anterior profile of head in front of front border of upper eye, with 70-90 finrays; pectoral fin on eyed side with 8-9 finrays, on blind side about equally developed; anal finrays 58-75; caudal fin joined to last dorsal and anal fins by a low membrane. Lateral line with 96-150 pored scales, the supra-temporal branch forming a smoothly rounded curve. Vertebrae 45-47. Colour: eyed side uniform yellowish-brown with small brown spots; pectoral fin on eyed side with a distinct black patch towards end of middle finrays, surrounded by both yellow and white areas. Size: to 40 cm SL.
Habitat: demersal on gravels, sand or muddy sand at depths of 5-350 m, but mainly in shallow waters (20-50 m). Food: a wide range of small marine bivalves (Mediterranean); mainly crustaceans, such as amphipods, mysids, shrimps, decapods, bivalves and polychaetes. Reproduction: spawns May-September, with a peak in June/July (Iberian Peninsula, Bay of Biscay, western English Channel).
Distribution: eastern Atlantic (southern part of North Sea and southward from Scotland) and Mediterranean (western part, also Adriatic). southward to South Africa.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Holt, 1891: 457, pl. 49 (fig. 26), pl. 50 (fig. 34-35); 1899: 84, pl. 5 (fig. 50-51) | Clark, 1914: 363-372, fig. 5-11 | Arbault and Boutin, 1968: 464-465, fig. 58-59.
Otoliths (sagitta). Frost, 1930: 236, pl. 9 (fig. 20) | Chaine, 1936: 169, pl. 11.