American Plaice 2 Underwater World
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QL 626 U5313 r DFO - Library I MPO - BibliotMque"" no.15 'I llllll lllll 1111111111111111111111111111111111 ~II 1989 12064588 c.2 American Plaice 2 Underwater World merican plaice (sometimes called Description American Plaice A plaice or flounder) is probably the American plaice (Hippoglossoides most abundant flatfish in the North- platessoides) belongs to the flatfish west Atlantic and has become one group of fishes, whose members are of the major commercially exploited strongly compressed laterally and lie groundfish species. With the extension and swim on one side. When the young of the 200-mile limit, the fishery for fish hatch from the egg, at or near the plaice has evolved into almost an exclu surface, they have the normal fish sive Canadian fishery. form. During development, as they set For Canada, the most important tle to the bottom of the ocean, a fishery for plaice is the Grand Banks, change occurs in the body structure. where it has accounted for up to two The head becomes twisted so that the thirds of total Newfoundland trawler fish now swims and lies on its side. The landings in the past decade. American upper side (which now has both eyes) is plaice are also fished commercially in normally pigmented as compared to other localities and the species is fairly the lower side which lacks pigmenta common throughout the whole North tion. Plaice almost invariably have west Atlantic. their eyes on the right side of the body. In terms of total weight of fish of all The fish has a large mouth that ex species landed in the Northwest Atlan tends at least below the middle of the tic, the combined flatfish of all species eye . The body is covered with relatively ranks next to cod, with American small scales, the tail fin is rounded, and plaice accounting for about SO per cent the line that runs along the side of the of the total flatfish landed. body (the lateral line) is slightly curved Since the extension of Canadian just behind the gill openings (Fig . 1). jurisdiction and the resulting control of The color is normally reddish to grey its marine resources, there are encour ish brown on the upper pigmented side aging signs that the stock size of plaice and white on the lower side. is increasing, especially on the Grand Banks. In the past, it appears that rela Distribution tively large numbers of plaice, espe This species is distributed on both cially those less than commercial size, sides of the Atlantic, although the were caught and discarded by countries European type probably is a subspecies that were interested in catching only of the North American fish. In the cod to be salted. In addition, there was Northwest Atlantic they occur from no way to determine the accuracy of West Greenland to the Gulf of Maine. reported landings. However, since be The general distribution off the east Fig. 1. American plaice (Hippoglos coming a Canadian fishery, matters coast of Canada is outlined in Fig. 2. soides platessoides) have changed. As indicated, the occurrence of this species is widespread throughout the area and is probably the most abun dant flatfish in the Northwest Atlantic. The area of highest abundance is the Grand Banks, especially the northern half. While American plaice is considered to be a "cold" water species, it never theless appears to have a fairly wide temperature tolerance. It occurs in temperatures ranging from about -l.S°C to temperatures above S°C and from inshore localities down to 700 m. However, the preferred temperature for this species appears to be in the range from just below 0°C to about l .S°C and principally in the 90 to 2SO m depth range. As a rufo, plaice encountered in the deeper ranges are at higher temperatures. It is worth noting Underwater World 3 on the locality). However, all male plaice are usually mature after the age ATLANTIC COAST of six (25-30 cm). ST ANOARO PARAllE LS ~9oN 77o N PR OJECTION L A ... 8ERT C0N f 0R,,.A l Plaice produce large quantities of eggs. Thus, a 40 cm plaice, on the average, produces 250,000 to 300,000 eggs and a 65-70 cm plaice produces nearly 1,500,000 eggs . Spawning and fertilization of the eggs occur at or near ·~· · · II KEY FISHING AREAS the bottom and the fertilized buoyant . eggs float to the surface layer where . hatching occurs. FISHING AREAS While no specific spawning grounds for this species have been recognized, certain localities offer environmental conditions such as bottom type, tem perature and depth that are particu larly favourable for spawning activity. American plaice are spring spawners, with spawning occurring at least as ear ly as the first part of April on the Flemish Cap (Fig. 4), and on the southern half of the Grand Banks, to late May or early June off Labrador. The length of time between fertiliza tion and hatching of· the eggs varies considerably depending on the water temperature in the upper layers. Hence, developing eggs and larvae could drift a considerable distance before the young fish finally settle to the bottom. Age and Growth Plaice are relatively slow growing fish. Age is determined by counting rings on the ear bones (otoliths). The dark rings· are probably formed when environmental conditions and food supplies are unfavourable and growth is slow. The lighter rings probably re Fig. 2. General distribution of Ameri flect more favourable conditions and can plaice in the Northwest Atlantic periods of more rapid growth. Because of differences in environ that the largest catches are normally mental conditions and food supplies taken between 125 and 200 m in tem throughout the region, there is con peratures of -0.5° to l .0°C. siderable variability in the rate at which these fish grow. Figure 3 gives a plot of Spawning the average length of American plaice For most of their distribution, fe for a number of localities in the male plaice begin to spawn at eight or Newfoundland-Labrador area. It can nine years of age when they are about be seen that plaice on the northeast 30 cm in length (depending on the loca part of the Grand Banks at 10 years of tion). However, most female plaice do age are, on the average, around 32 cm, not reach the spawning stage until at whereas, on the southwest part of the least 11 years of age (40-45 cm). Some Grand Banks they are approximately males, on the other hand, become sex 45 cm in length. The growth curves ually mature at three years of age when shown in Fig. 3 are for female plaice. they are 15-20 cm in length (depending Male plaice are slightly smaller than Underwater World 4 the females from about six years of Fishery Management age, and usually have a shorter life For management purposes American span. American plaice from the Gulf plaice in the Canadian sector of the of St. Lawrence (Div. 4T) and the Sco Northwest Atlantic consists of six tian Shelf (Div. 4V, 4W, and 4X) have stocks. Additionally, there is a stock in a growth rate slightly below the curve the New England-George's Bank area. shown in Fig. 3 for the southwest part A fish stock is usually roughly defined of the Grand Banks. Plaice up to at as a discrete group of fish of a par least 25 years of age have been caught, ticular species occupying an area. The but in heavily exploited stocks 20 years stock idea implies that any fishing ac of age is usually the maximum record tivity on one stock (of a particular ed. species) would have little or no effect on any other stock. For example, fish Food and Feeding ing the Grand Banks plaice very heavily Larval plaice feed on minute plants would have no effect on the size of the and animals that are present in the up population on St. Pierre Bank (Fig. 4) per water layers. When they settle to or on the northeast Newfoundland the floor of the ocean their diet Shelf (NAFO Div. 3K). gradually changes as the fish grow and Although the limits of all the stocks the mouth size increases and accom have not been completely defined, it is modates a wider variety of prey. Adult fairly certain at least that the small plaice feed on such things as sand plaice stock on the Flemish Cap is dis dollars, brittle stars, shrimp-like .ani tinct from that on the Grand Banks, mals, marine worms called polychae and because of their geographic tes, and fish; primarily capelin and separation, stocks on the Scotian Shelf launce. As a matter of fact, the latter and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are make up most of the diet of plaice in almost certainly discrete. some localities. American plaice are relatively seden Although the normal habitat is at or tary, at least in the adult phase, and near the ocean floor, plaice frequently tagging results have indicated minor move off the bottom, usually at night, migrations. Most tagged fish were Fig. 3. Comparison of size-at-age of possibly in pursuit of prey species such recovered less than · 30 miles from the American plaice from four different as capelin. tagging site up to seven or eight years localities after tagging. The stock units that have been used to manage plaice and indeed almost all 60 fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic are based on Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) subarea or divi 50 sional boundaries. To determine the size of fish populations, it is necessary to have knowledge of the quantities of fish caught for a number of years, and E 40 catches have been recorded by various ~ w statistical agencies and reported by ':::! NAFO divisions (Fig.