Soleidae
Family of fishes
title: "Soleidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["soleidae", "carangiformes-families", "taxa-named-by-charles-lucien-bonaparte", "extant-ypresian-first-appearances"] description: "Family of fishes" topic_path: "general/soleidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Family of fishes ::
::callout[type=note] soles of the family Soleidae ::
| name = Soles | fossil_range = | image = Pegusa_lascaris.jpg | image_caption = Sand sole, Pegusa lascaris | taxon = Soleidae | authority = Bonaparte, 1832 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision_ref = | subdivision = See text
The true soles are a family, Soleidae, of flatfishes. It includes saltwater and brackish water species in the East Atlantic, Indian Ocean, West and Central Pacific Ocean, and the Mediterranean sea. Freshwater species are found in Africa, southern Asia, New Guinea, and Australia. Many soles are important food species: the common sole, Solea solea, is popular in northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Taxonomy
In the past, soles of the Americas (both fresh and salt water) were included in this family, but they have been separated to their own family, the American soles (Achiridae). The only true sole remaining in that region is Aseraggodes herrei of the Galápagos and Cocos Island.
Classification
The following genera are placed in this family:
- Achiroides
- Aesopia
- Aseraggodes
- Austroglossus
- Barnardichthys
- Bathysolea
- Brachirus
- Buglossidium
- Dagetichthys
- Dexillus
- Dicologlossa
- Heteromycteris
- Leptachirus
- Liachirus
- Microchirus
- Monochirus
- Paradicula
- Pardachirus
- Pegusa
- Phyllichthys
- Pseudaesopia
- Rendahlia
- Rhinosolea
- Solea
- Soleichthys
- Synaptura
- Synapturichthys
- Synclidopus
- Typhlachirus
- Vanstraelenia
- Zebrias
Evolution
The earliest known fossil remains of soles are indeterminate otoliths from the Early Eocene-aged London Clay. During the Middle Eocene (Lutetian), the first fossil skeletons of soles are known in Eobuglossus and Turahbuglossus from Egypt. Other fossil soles include †Oligosolea Kovalchuk et al., 2025 from the Early Oligocene of Poland, and †Parasolea Schwarzhans et al., 2017 from the Middle Miocene of Croatia.
Ecology
The true soles are bottom-dwelling fishes feeding on small crustaceans and other invertebrates. The family contains 30 genera and a total of about 180 species.
A flatfish resembling a small halibut or sole was observed by the bathyscaphe Trieste at the bottom of the Mariana Trench at a depth around 11 km. This observation has been questioned by fish experts, and recent authorities do not recognize it as valid.
Life history
Soles begin life as bilaterally symmetric larvae, with an eye on each side of the head, but during development, the left eye moves around onto the right side of the head. Adult soles lie on their left (blind) sides on the sea floor, often covered in mud, which in combination with their dark colours, makes them hard to spot. Image:Aesopia cornuta.jpg|Unicorn sole, Aesopia cornuta Image:Buglossidium luteum.jpg|Solenette, Buglossidium luteum Image:Solea solea 1.jpg|Common sole, Solea solea file:Synaptura panoides - 1866-1872 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - UBA01 IZ14000237.tif|Freshwater sole, Brachirus panoides
References
References
- {{FishBase family. (2012)
- {{FishBase. (2014)
- {{Cof family
- Chanet, Bruno. (1994). "''Eubuglossus eocenicus'' (Woodward 1910) from the Upper Lutetian of Egypt, one of the oldest soleids (Teleostei, Pleuronectiformes)". N. Jb. Geol. Paläont. Mh..
- (2025). "Oligocene flatfishes (Teleostei, Pleuronectiformes) of the Outer Carpathian Basin". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
- (2017). "Otoliths in situ from Sarmatian (Middle Miocene) fishes of the Paratethys. Part V: Bothidae and Soleidae". Swiss Journal of Palaeontology.
- [[BBC News]] (23 February 2012). ''[https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-17060355 Meet the only man alive who has been to the deepest ocean.]''. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
- Jamieson, A.J., and Yancey, P. H. (2012). ''[http://www.biolbull.org/content/222/3/171.full On the Validity of the Trieste Flatfish: Dispelling the Myth.]'' [[The Biological Bulletin]] 222(3): 171–175
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