Marine Fish Culture in Britain: VI. The Effect of the Acclimatization of Adult Plaice to Pond Conditions on the Viability of Eggs and Larvae

Abstract

The value of acclimatization to fish-farm conditions of captive spawning stocks of marine flat fish was investigated by hatching and rearing to metamorphosis newly spawned eggs from plaice (Pleuronectes platessa L.) which had been kept in captivity for several months, and from plaice caught just before spawning. Survival was higher at all stages from egg to metamorphosis in the fish reared from eggs produced by the acclimatized stock, with an average of 206 metamorphosed fish per thousand eggs. The production from unacclimatized stock was 44 metamorphosed fish per thousand eggs. Biometric data are given for the fish reared. A very cold winter inhibited spawning of a captive stock of plaice in 1963.