However, toward the end of the larval period, flatfishes settle to the benthos and take up a cryptic , somewhat sedentary lifestyle, lying on one side of the body, and swimming laterally to the substratum. Metamorphosis to the juvenile stage involves complex modification of the skeletal structure of the head, and rearrangement of the nervous system and muscle tissues. P. albigutta is a left-eye flounder, thus it lies on its right side, and at metamorphosis, the right eye migrates to the left side of the head. Body color in this species is brown overall, and can vary in shade depending on the color of the substratum. Together, these form a triangle on the body surface.
Teeth are strong and canine-like.
The blindside is white or dusky. This species can be confused with the southern flounder, P. lethostigma . However, P. lethostigma is significantly larger in size and lacks P. albigutta 's 3 distinct ocellated spots. The summer flounder, Paralichthys albigutta , occurs from North Carolina south through Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to Texas. Its range is sympatric with that of the southern flounder, P. lethostigma .