Growth, condition, diet and spatial distribution of the solenette Buglossidium luteum (Risso, 1810) were investigated along the coasts of the French Atlantic, eastern English Channel and Southern Bight of the North Sea. Distribution and habitat preferences of solenette were analysed in relation to physical and biological features presumed to influence fish distribution. B. luteum was patchily distributed and concentrated in shallow muddy and muddy-sand bottoms moderately influenced by estuarine waters (euhaline waters). In the studied area, solenette seemed to find habitats suitable for growth. Food availability was not assumed to be a limiting factor for solenette distribution in contrast to abiotic factors such as salinity.