---
title: Largescale Flounder (Engyprosopon grandisquama)
scientific_name: Engyprosopon grandisquama
common_name: Largescale Flounder
taxon: Lefteye flounders
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-11-24T14:56:22.753Z
updated: 2026-08-08T21:29:04.141Z
tags: Largescale Flounder, Engyprosopon grandisquama, Lefteye flounders, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/lefteye-flounders/largescale-flounder
---

# Largescale Flounder (*Engyprosopon grandisquama*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Lefteye flounders
- **Size:** 10 - 15 cm
- **Depth:** 7-200 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Habitat:** Sandy and muddy areas, often on continental shelf
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- greyish-brown mottled body with dark spots
- small dark spots on dorsal and anal fins
- pair of black blotches on caudal fin (3rd/4th rays from edges)

The Largescale Flounder, Engyprosopon grandisquama, has an oval, compressed body. Its ocular side is typically greyish-brown, mottled with irregular darker and lighter blotches and scattered small dark spots, providing camouflage on sandy or muddy substrates. Small dark spots also mark the dorsal and anal fins. A key identification feature is a pair of black blotches on the caudal fin, situated between the third and fourth rays from both edges. It reaches a maximum length of 15 cm (6 in), though commonly observed at around 10 cm (4 in). The fish lacks elongated pectoral fins on its eyed side, with no noticeable sexual dimorphism in this regard. Its gill rakers are very short and smooth, numbering 5-7.

This flounder inhabits sandy and muddy areas, often on the continental shelf, at depths ranging from 7 to 200 meters (23 to 656 feet). It primarily feeds on crustaceans, polychaetes, and other small bottom-dwelling invertebrates, often ambushing prey from concealment. The species frequently buries itself in the substrate, leaving only its eyes exposed, making it a cryptic species often overlooked by divers. Meristic counts include 81 to 87 dorsal soft rays, 61 to 65 anal soft rays, 10-12 pectoral fin rays on the ocular side (8-10 on the blind side), 3 + 11 + 3 caudal fin rays, 6 pelvic fin rays on each side, 40 to 45 lateral line scales, and 24 vertebrae. The genus name Engyprosopon derives from Greek words meaning "nearly a face."

## Also known as

- **English:** largescale flounder, Spiny-head Flounder, spotted-tail flounder
- **French:** Perpeire à Grandes Ecailles, Perpeire à grandes écailles
- **Spanish:** Lenguado Escamoso
- **Japanese:** ダルマガレイ, Darumagarei

## Scientific synonyms

- *Arnoglossus grandisquama* (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)
- *Arnoglossus poecilurus* (Bleeker, 1852)
- *Arnoglossus spilurus* (Günther, 1880)
- *Bothus poecilurus* (Bleeker, 1852)
- *Engyprosopon grandiquama* (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)
- *Engyprosopon grandisquamis* (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)
- *Engyprosopon spiniceps* (MacLeay, 1881)
- *Engyroprosopon grandisquamis* (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)
- *Platophrys grandisquama* (Temminck & Schlegel, 1946)
- *Platophrys poecilurus* (Bleeker, 1852)
- *Platophrys spiniceps* (MacLeay, 1881)
- *Pseudorhombus poecilurus* (Bleeker, 1852)
- *Rhomboidichthys grandisquama* (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)
- *Rhomboidichthys poecilurus* (Bleeker, 1852)
- *Rhomboidichthys spilurus* Günther, 1880
- *Rhomboidichthys spiniceps* MacLeay, 1881
- *Rhombus grandisquama* Temminck & Schlegel, 1846
- *Rhombus poecilurus* Bleeker, 1852
- *Scaeops grandisquama* (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)
- *Scaeops orbicularis* Jordan & Seale, 1907
- *Scaeops poecilura* (Bleeker, 1852)
- *Scaeops poecilurus* (Bleeker, 1852)
- *Scaeops spilura* (Günther, 1880)

## Range

Federal Republic of Somalia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/lefteye-flounders/largescale-flounder)*
*Updated: August 8, 2026*