Yellowtail Flounder

Yellowtail flounder live along the Atlantic coast of North America from Newfoundland to the Chesapeake Bay. There are three stocks in U.S waters: the Gulf of Maine/Cape Cod, Georges Bank, and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic stocks, all of which NOAA Fisheries is working to rebuild.

• Yellowtail flounder is a thin-bodied, right-eyed flounder.
• They are wide – nearly half as broad as they are long – with an oval body.
• They have a small mouth and an arched lateral line.
• Their upper side, including the fins, is brownish or olive, tinged with red and marked with large, irregular rusty red spots.
• True to their name, their tail fin and the edges of the two long fins are yellow.
• The underside is white, except for the caudal peduncle (the area between the body and the tail), which is yellowish.

• Yellowtail flounder grow faster than most flatfish, up to 22 inches and 2.2 pounds.
• They can live up to 17 years, although most don’t live past age 7.
• They also mature earlier than most flatfish.
• Almost all females are able to reproduce by the time they reach age 3.
• They spawn during the spring and summer.
• Females deposit their eggs on the ocean floor. After the eggs are fertilized, they float to the surface and the larvae drift in surface waters for about 2 months.
• When yellowtail flounder are first hatched, their eyes are symmetrical, with an eye on each side of their head. As the fish grows, it flattens out and the left eye slowly moves over to the right side of its head. After this metamorphosis, the juvenile settles to the ocean bottom.
• Juvenile yellowtail flounder mostly eat worms.
• Adults feed on crustaceans and worms.
• Spiny dogfish, skate, and a number of fish such as cod, hakes, flounder, and monkfish prey on yellowtail flounder.

• Yellowtail flounder are found along the Atlantic coast of North America from Newfoundland to the Chesapeake Bay.

• There are three stocks of yellowtail flounder in U.S. waters, the Gulf of Maine/Cape Cod, Georges Bank, and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic stocks.
• NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council manage Gulf of Maine and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder; NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council collaborate with Canada to jointly manage Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, because the stock spans the international boundary.
• Yellowtail flounder, along with other groundfish in New England waters, are managed under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, which includes:
  • Permitting requirements for commercial vessels.
  • Separate management measures for recreational vessels.
  • Time/Area Closures to protect spawning fish and habitat.
  • Minimum fish sizes to prevent harvest of juvenile fish.
  • Annual catch limits, based on best available science.
  • An optional sector (catch share) program can be used for yellowtail flounder and other groundfish species. The sector program allows fishermen to form harvesting cooperatives and work together to decide when, where, and how they harvest fish.