juvenile flatfish in the Russian River

Brian or Sean, perhaps you can help me with this one.  My son and I were skipping rocks in the Russian down below Monte Rio beach and we were spooking small fish in the shallows.  I managed to see where one stopped and was able to grab it.  It was about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in length, typical flatfish with both eyes on the colored side and a white under side.  Colored side was mottled gravel like pattern matching the environment where it was found.  Shape was more diamond like than oval, so it did not appear to be a CA Halibut.  Also, smaller mouth than a typical halibut and no perceptible teeth.  Could this be a juvenile starry flounder this far up the river (5 miles, plus or minus)?  What flatfish in general lay their eggs in brackish water in CA?  Sorry, no pics as I was not prepared at the time.

Norm

Probably a starry flounder.  They can be found in very fresh water.  In fact they even catch them in the San Luis Reservoir on occasion.

Brian

Bingo, Brian sounds like he got it.  There are a ton of them in the estuary.

Yep.  The lower river can be downright stupid with juvenile starrys.  They are very cute!

Thanks for the info guys, appreciate the feedback.

Would you say that the adults enter the estuary to spawn and then head back out, or is there possibly a resident adult population in the estuary?