- About
- With 500+ faculty, staff and students and three campus locations, the Batten School & VIMS are equipped to tackle pressing challenges through research, education and advisory service.
  Learn More
- Research & Advisory
- Purple marsh crabs are significantly disrupting carbon cycling in salt marshes along the East Coast of the U.S., according to a study led by Batten School & VIMS scientists.
  Learn More
- Batten School
- The R. Todd Stravitz Scholars Program will provide full tuition support for students pursuing the new bachelor’s degree in coastal & marine sciences at the Batten School & VIMS.
  
  Read More
- Engage
- Popular, free camps enable rising third through eighth graders to learn about the Chesapeake Bay, coastal ecosystems and environmental stewardship.
  
  Read More
- News & Events
- National TRAP Program funds large-scale cleanup of discarded fishing gear, first round of subawards totaling more than $1.4M supports 11 projects focused on removing derelict fishing gear from coastal waters in nine U.S. states and Palau.
  
  Learn More
- Giving
- As an expression of parental pride in their daughter, Taylor Spencer ‘83 and Martha Spencer recently established an undergraduate field research endowment at the Batten School & VIMS.
  
  Read More

Gulf stream flounder

Citharichthyes arctifrons

Information and species illustrations courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Species Information
Size Maximum size to 18 cm.
Diagnostic characters Eyes on left side of head. No spines present in fins. Mouth protractile, asymmetrical, lower jaw moderately prominent. No teeth on vomer. Preopercle exposed, its posterior margin free and visible, not hidden by skin or scales. Urinary papilla on blind side, not attached to first anal-fin ray. Dorsal fin long, originating above, lateral to, or anterior to upper eye. Dorsal and anal fins not attached to caudal fin. Both pectoral fins present. Both pelvic fins present, with 5 or 6 rays (6 rays in nearly all species); base of pelvic fin of ocular side on midventral line. Caudal fin with 17 or 18 rays, 10 to 13 rays branched (usually 11 or 13, rarely 10 or 12). Lateral line present and obvious on both sides of body; lateral line without high arch over pectoral fin; lateral line absent below lower eye. Colour: ocular side uniformly brownish or greyish, often with spots, blotches, or ocelli; blind side usually pale; although ambicoloration (eyed-side coloration replicated on blind side) may occasionally occur. Mouth large, maxilla less than 3.5 in head length usually reaching posteriorly to vertical through mideye; jaws on blind side not arched; front teeth in jaws enlarged, larger than lateral teeth Both jaws with a single row of fixed (immovable) teeth Scales ctenoid; gill rakers slender and moderately long Osseous protuberance on snout; upper-jaw length less than 33% head length (31% head length in some specimens of C. spilopterus); body depth 34 to 43% standard length (usually less than 40%).
Habitat, biology, and fisheries Occurring at depths of 40 to 370 m; occasionally at shallower depths (20 m). Visually orienting ambush predator; feeds predominately on polychaetes and crustaceans, primarily amphipods.
Distribution Continental shelf off the Atlantic coast of the USA (Massachusetts to Florida), and Gulf of Mexico (Florida to Yucatán, Mexico).
Citations Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1-600. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 601-1374. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1375-2127.