The Fecundity of Plaice From the Bay of Biscay

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the number of eggs in the roes of ripening female plaice, Pleuronectes platessa L., caught off La Rochelle during the winter of 1960–61. The fecundity of plaice has been studied over a number of years in fish collected over a wide area (Bagenal, 1958,19600,6,1962) and the results given in this paper apply to plaice caught as near the southern limit of their distribution as possible. Although plaice have been recorded from farther south (Wimpenny, 1953), La Rochelle is the most southerly port where they can be obtained in sufficient numbers.