Fluke fish are saltwater fish that eat crabs, squid, shrimp, forage fish such as anchovies, and even smaller flounders. The most distinguishing characteristic is that they change colour and texture like a chameleon.
Fluke fish are preyed upon by monkfish, sharks, and rays. Physical characteristics include brown and hairy skin.
What’s the Difference Between Fluke and Flounder?
Put simply, Fluke is Flounder. Fluke is another name for Summer Flounder, a large, predatory species of Flatfish that lives in the North Atlantic. The reason people get confused is that Winter Flounder also live in the same place. Luckily, there are some easy ways to tell the two apart.
Winter Flounder are darker than Summer Flounder. They can look almost black – hence their nickname, “Blackback”. Summer Flounder are light brown with cream or whitish spots. Flounders are able to change color to match their surroundings, though, so their faces are the surest way to tell them apart.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FLUKE AND A FLOUNDER?
Flukes and flounders are types of flatfish. That means that, while they started life swimming upright, during the larval stage, they lay on either their left or right side and the eye facing towards the bottom migrated to be top-facing.
So, some flat fish are right-side-up (their left eye migrated to the right side) and some are left-side-up, meaning that their right eye migrated to the left side. What makes a particular fish turn into a left-side or a right-side fish?
ALL FLUKE ARE FLOUNDER BUT NOT ALL FLOUNDER ARE FLUKE
Generally speaking, left-side up flounder are flukes, and right-side up flounders are called flounders. That sounds easy enough to remember, but it gets worse. Flukes are also called “summer flounder,” and flounder, or right-side fish, are called “winter flounder.”