Pointhead flounder

Cleisthenes pinetorum

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth60–212 m
Water temperature7–19 °C
Best monthsJuly, September, and October
How commonRare

About this species

Cleisthenes pinetorum is a flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. It is a demersal fish that lives on sublittoral sand and mud bottoms at depths of between 50 and 200 metres. Its native habitat is the temperate waters of the northwest Pacific, around Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cleisthenes pinetorum”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 0 records
February: 0 records
March: 0 records
April: 2 records
May: 0 records
June: 5 records
July: 7 records
August: 3 records
September: 7 records
October: 6 records
November: 1 records
December: 0 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 60–212 m · Deepest record: 318 m

40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 2 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110–120 m: 1 records
120–130 m: 1 records
130–140 m: 0 records
140–150 m: 3 records
150+ m: 14 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 7–19 °C

6–8 °C: 3 records
8–10 °C: 1 records
10–12 °C: 5 records
12–14 °C: 6 records
14–16 °C: 5 records
16–18 °C: 6 records
18–20 °C: 7 records

Names and classification

English: Pointhead flounder, Sôhachi, sohachi flounder

Names in 2 more languages

Japanese: Sohachi, Sōhachi, ソウハチ
Simplified Chinese: 松木高眼鰈

Other scientific names: Cleisthenes herzensteini, Hippoglossoides herzensteini, Hippoglossoides pinetorum, Protopsetta herzensteini

Similar species

Kamchatka flounder
Atheresthes evermanni
Roughscale sole
Clidoderma asperrimum
Shotted halibut
Eopsetta grigorjewi
migigarei
Dexistes rikuzenius

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
34 open-data records from 1906 to 2010.
Species data updated November 1, 2026.

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