Southern Flounder

Southern Flounder

Will White

Latin name: Paralichthys lethostigma

Southern flounder are the highest-value finfish fishery in North Carolina, but are thought to be overfished. Dr. Will White, with colleagues at UNC Wilmington, have found that flounder reared in NC estuarine nurseries are later found in SC and GA estuaries as adults, meaning that the population is more widely mixed across states than was assumed by NC managers. There is less fishing in those other states, so the stock may be healthier than previously thought.

Publications: 

Wang VH, White JW, Arnott SA, Scharf FS. 2018. Population connectivity of southern flounder in the U.S. South Atlantic revealed by otolith chemical analysis. Marine Ecology Progress Series, in press.

Midway SR, White JW, Scharf FS. The potential for cryptic population structure to sustain a heavily exploited marine flatfish stock. In revision, Marine and Coastal Fisheries