Sole (fish)

[2][3] In other languages, it is named for the tongue, e.g. Greek glóssa (γλώσσα), German Seezunge, Dutch zeetong or tong or the smaller and popular sliptong (young sole), Hungarian nyelvhal, Spanish lenguado, Cantonese lung lei (龍脷, 'dragon tongue'), Arabic lisan Ath-thawr (‏لسان الثور‎) (for the common sole) meaning 'the tongue of ox' in Qosbawi accent, Turkish dil.

A partial list of common names for species referred to as sole include: The true sole, Solea solea, is sufficiently distributed that it is not considered a threatened species; however, overfishing in Europe has produced severely diminished populations, with declining catches in many regions.

For example, the western English Channel and Irish Sea sole fisheries face potential collapse according to data in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

Sole, along with the other major bottom-feeding fish in the North Sea such as cod, monkfish, and plaice, is listed by the ICES as "outside safe biological limits."

In 2010, Greenpeace International has added the common sole to its seafood red list, as they are primarily caught by beam trawlers, which have a very high bycatch rate.