[contractions] that [travel] with decreasing amplitude down the length of the body." This odd combination of muscle contractions complete two primary tasks: (i) First, the head is driven into the substrate in the first half of the movement. (ii) Second, the head movements "waft sediment from beneath the body so that it falls back onto the surface of the fish." In this latter have of the movement the fishes do not simply swim into the substrate, they actively displace the substrate so that it falls back on top of them and conceals them. Location is crucial to these behaviors as some substrates are impenetrable to flatfish. This facet actively selects for specific substrates that the fish can bury in (e.g. sand), and dictate their home ranges. In The Behaviour of Flatfish, it is noted that this preference of substrate drifts towards sandy over coarse, as well as an avoidance of overly muddy substrates. The Behaviour of Flatfish does not explain as to why this is, but it could be speculated that the murkiness caused by burying in muddy substrates can be rather visible to predators, counteracting the primary function of this behavior. Time of day can also be important, as visibility decreases with access to light. Due to this factor, it is expected that burial behaviors are less common in scophthalmids at lower depths and during the night. Lastly, burying behavior does not just limit predation detection via visual cues. Indeed, burial can reduce "conspicuousness," but flatfish can employ additional tools to solidify their defense. Scophthalmids are believed to be capable of lowering heart rates and well as decreasing oxygen consumption, in turn sending less involuntary cues of their presence and reduce the chemical signals sent to predators. Feeding behavior Feeding is crucial to any organisms behavior as it is necessary to sustain life. Unlike other organisms, however, temperature plays a significant role in determining feeding intensity and growth. While making Scophthalmidae more susceptible to climate change, this force also helps dictate population size and drives growth to be proportional to the various seasons. Being that Scophthalmidae is a family of flatfish very similar to other Pleuronectiformes, diet varies. Flatfish take advantage of complex environments while most fish have no choice but to hunt in open water. This gives the fishes relatively high plasticity in their feeding behaviors and they enlist a wide range of tactics. Visits to species pages