Reaching 56 cm (22 in) in length, it has reddish brown upperparts, pale underparts and yellow fins.

A victim of overfishing, the yellowtail flounder is categorized as "Vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The yellowtail flounder was originally described by German naturalist Carl Moritz Gottsche as Limanda vulgaris in the Archiv für Naturgeschichte in 1835.

[9] According to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), yellowtail flounders can grow to a length of 56 centimetres (22 in), weighing up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb).

[16] Three fish stocks exist in US waters: in the Gulf of Maine area, on Georges Bank, and off southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

[16][17] The larvae of L. ferruginea remain near the surface for two months, but after maturing to a length of at least 14 mm (0.55 in), they dwell on sandy or muddy seafloors at a depth between 30 and 100 metres (98 and 328 ft).

[10][12] The early larval stages closely resemble that of the winter flounder, though the appearance of the fin rays differentiates them.

[9] They eat crustaceans (including amphipods, shrimps, mysids, and shellfish) as well as marine worms, and are preyed on by other fish such as spiny dogfish and skate.

[10] More than 526,000 kilograms (1,160,000 lb) of yellowtail flounder was commercially caught in American waters in 2020 (the vast majority in Massachusetts), valued at over $1 million.

[19] According to NMFS, the fishing rate is being reduced at Georges Bank and there are rebuilding plans to increase populations of all three stocks.