Which animal is Flounder in Disney’s The Little Mermaid?

Flounder is a tropical fish in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Despite his name, Flounder is not a flounder in the zoological sense. He is Ariel’s best friend and a small, yellow-and-blue tropical fish who frequently accompanies her on adventures. The name is a playful character name rather than a precise description of his species.

Flounder is cautious where Ariel is adventurous, so his reactions provide both comic contrast and emotional support. He follows Ariel to the surface-world shipwreck and later helps her during the story’s conflicts. In the 1989 animated film, he was voiced by Jason Marin. Jacob Tremblay voices the character in the 2023 live-action adaptation.

This is a frequent trivia mix-up because “flounder” is also the common name for several kinds of flatfish. Disney’s character design clearly presents a rounded reef fish, not a flat-bottom-dwelling flounder. The character’s exact biological species is not specified in the films.