This paper summarizes the developments in flatfish recruitment studies over the last decade with emphasis on the general patterns that have emerged from the contributions to the two Flatfish Symposia of 1990 and 1993. Recruitment variability is largely generated by density-independent factors acting during the pelagic egg and larval phases. Density-dependent feedback processes occur in the demersal juvenile phase, when flatfish become highly specialized benthic feeding fish. There is evidence that density-dependent feedback processes may also occur during the adult phase in not or lightly exploited populations. Areas of future research that emerge from this symposium are outlined.