The Flounder's Eye

A good example of bad design is the flounder, whose popularity as an eating fish (Dover sole, for instance) comes partly from its flatness, which makes it easy to bone. There are actually about 500 species of flatfish— halibut, turbot, flounders, and their kin—all placed in the order Pleuronectiformes. The word means “side-swimmers,” a description that’s the key to their poor design. Flatfish are born as normal-looking fish that swim vertically, with one eye placed on each side of a...