Flounder are bottom-dwelling creatures which use their flattened shape and ability to change coloration and pattern on the eyed side of their bodies to partially burrow in the sediment, lie in ambush and wait for their prey. They are efficient predators with quick movements and well-developed teeth allowing them to capture small fishes, squid, seaworms, shrimp, and other crustaceans.

Summer flounder are found in estuarine and coastal waters from Nova Scotia to Florida. They are most abundant from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Cape Fear, North Carolina. Within Chesapeake Bay, summer flounder are largely restricted to waters south of Annapolis, but they can be found occasionally in the upper Bay. These fish inhabit coastal and estuarine waters from spring to fall and move offshore to depths of 100 to 600 feet during the winter. This migration is presumably brought on by decreasing water temperatures and declining photoperiods in the fall.

Spawning begins at about age 2 when the fish are approximately 12 inches in length and generally occurs in the fall and winter during offshore migrations and/or at the wintering grounds. Winter spawning migrations in Chesapeake Bay occur in October. Fish begin to move south nearshore along the beach from October to December. Fish spawning north of Chesapeake Bay begin in September and continue through December, while fish spawning south of Chesapeake Bay begin in November and end in February.

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Black sea bass are fairly stout-bodied fish, with a long dorsal fin, and large pectoral and pelvic fins. The rounded tail sometimes has a long streamer trailing out from the top edge. Each gill cover has a flat spine near the outer edge. Mature males have a fleshy dorsal hump just anterior to the dorsal fin.

The background color of the black sea bass (smokey gray, brown, or bluish black) is mottled with darker patches and light speckles. The belly is only slightly lighter than the sides. The dorsal fin is marked with whitish mottling, while all other fins have dark spots, Young sea bass are green or brown with a dark lateral stripe running from the head to the tail.

The largest black sea bass caught by an angler in Massachusetts`s waters weighed 8 pounds. However, most adults do not exceed 1.5 pounds. A 12-inch fish generally weighs 1 pound, while an 18 to 20-inch fish weighs about 3 pounds.

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The tautog is a stout fish with a blunt nose and a thick-lipped mouth that has large conical teeth in front and flat crushing teeth in back. The single dorsal fin originates over the gill slit and runs back nearly to the tail. The anterior three-quarters of this fin possesses a series of stiff, sharp spines, and the paired pelvic fins have one spine each.

The color of the tautog`s dorsal area ranges from dark green to black, with these shades mottling a lighter background color of the sides. The belly is only slightly lighter than the sides. The white chin characteristic of large tautog has led to many anglers to call this fish the "white chin."

Although capable of reaching large sizes, tautog are very slow growing. The largest tautog caught with hook-and-line in Massachusetts weighed 22 pounds 9 ounces. However, the average fish caught by anglers is 6 to 10 years old and weighs 2 to 4 pounds. Males typically grow faster and live longer than females. The maximum age for males appears to be about 35 years.

Both sexes mature at 3 or 4 years of age. The fecundity (number of eggs produced in a spawning season) of females is directly related to their size and weight. Female`s 12 inches long and 1 pound in weight produce about 30,000 eggs, while female`s 20 inches long and 5 pounds produce about 196,000 eggs per season.

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Winter flounder may attain sizes up to 64 cm (25 in.) total length. The diet consists primarily of benthic invertebrates. Movement patterns are generally localized. Winter flounder undertake small-scale migrations into estuaries, embayments, and saltwater ponds in winter to spawn, subsequently moving to deeper water during summer. 

Winter flounder tend to return to the same spawning locations in consecutive years. Restricted movement patterns, and differences in growth, meristic, and morphometric characteristics suggest that relatively discrete local groups exist.

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