Flounder Coloring Pages

A Flat Ocean Fish

Flounder is a flat fish that lives on the sandy or muddy ocean floor.
"Flounder" is not just one kind of fish, but a name for a big group of similar fish.
The Flounder in this coloring page is a marbled flounder, which is common in shallow Japanese bays.
It grows to about 30 to 40 centimeters long. People love to eat it simmered, deep-fried, or as raw sashimi.

Both Eyes Are on the Right Side

The coolest mystery about Flounder is that both of its eyes are on the right side of its body.
If you lay it down with its eyes facing up and its belly toward you, its head points right.
Halibut looks very similar, but its eyes are on the left side instead.
In Japan, people say "Left Halibut, Right Flounder" to remember how to tell them apart.
Try pointing to the two eyes on the first coloring page to find where they are!

They Look Like Normal Fish When Born

When baby Flounder are born, they have one eye on each side of their body, just like regular fish.
As they grow big while floating in the water, the left eye slowly moves over the top of the head to the right side.
By the time both eyes are on the right side, they tilt their bodies flat and start living on the ocean floor.
Their eyes move in the opposite direction from Halibut!

Eating Food in the Sand with a Small Mouth

Flounder has a smaller mouth than Halibut.
It uses its small mouth to nibble on long, thin bristle worms hiding in the sand, as well as small shells, shrimp, and crabs.
In the second coloring page, the Flounder in front is trying to eat a bristle worm poking out of the sand.
Can you also find the Flounder hiding under the sand and the one swimming low above it?

Let's Find the Secrets of Its Body

Along the edges of Flounder's body, the dorsal fin and anal fin stretch out long.
When it swims, it waves its fins and body like a ripple to move forward.
Along its side, a nearly straight line called the lateral line helps it feel water movements.
It can even change its body color and pattern to match the sand around it so other sea life cannot spot it!

Make the most of the spotted pattern

The side of the Flounder with its eyes has a spotted pattern of dark brown and ochre mixed with dark and light spots.
If you color the body brown and use dark brown and cream for the round spots, it will look just like a real one!
It is also fun to color the spots one by one, switching back and forth between dark and light colors.

Color the fins along the lines

There are many thin lines in a row on the dorsal fin, anal fin, and tail fin.
If you color along the lines, dark at the base and light toward the edges, you can show how thin the fins are.
If you make the fins a slightly yellowish brown compared to the body, they will look nice and bright.
For the small eyes, leave a little white space and color the pupils with a dark color.

Color the eelgrass sea with bright colors

The long, thin grass growing on the left side of the second page is a sea grass called eelgrass.
Color the eelgrass with green and yellow-green! If you change the color a little for each leaf, it will look like it is swaying back and forth.
Color the sandy bottom light beige, and the water above it light blue.
If you color the Flounder hiding in the sand with colors similar to the sand, it will look like it is really hiding!

Don't forget the ragworm and clams

Try coloring the ragworm that the Flounder is trying to eat with light pink or orange.
The littleneck clams sticking out of the sand will look cute if you color them white or light brown with dark brown patterns!

The belly side is pure white

The side of the Flounder without eyes, which faces the bottom of the sea, is white.
The top side matches the sand, and the bottom side is white. The colors on each side are totally different!
If you see a Flounder at the fish shop, flip it over to check out its white side, too.

"Joka Flounder" caught under a castle

In Hiji Town, Oita Prefecture, a kind of Flounder caught in the sea right below a castle is called "Joka Flounder."
Because they grow where fresh water springs up from the sea floor, people say they taste delicious with very little smell.
In the Edo period, these fish were given to the Shogun. Everyday people could not eat them, so they were also called "Lord's Fish."
We made the first coloring page by looking at a photo of this Joka Flounder!

Some Flounder have eyes on the left

People say "Flounder eyes are on the right," but there are some exceptions.
For the Starry Flounder found around Japan, almost all of them have eyes on the left side.
Look at the size of the mouth as well as the eyes to figure out which fish it is!