In both species oocyte maturation is a contin- 

 uous process that occurs throughout the reproduc- 

 tive period (Tables 1, 2) with multiple spawnings 

 occurring. Depleted ovaries containing mainly 

 Type 1 oocytes were not observ-ed until conclusion 

 of the spawning season. The presence of various 

 groups of developing oocytes as occurs in G. 

 lineatus and S. politus was termed asynchronism 

 by Yamamoto and Yamazaki (1961) who found this 

 condition common in fishes with long breeding 

 seasons and multiple spawnings. 



Another difference (Table 1) was the persistence 

 of small quantities of Types 2 and 3 oocytes in G. 

 lineatui^ after the conclusion of spawning in April 

 which persist throughout summer. It is more 

 typical for remaining vitellogenic oocytes to 

 undergo atresia at the end of the spawning season 

 as occurs in S. politus whose inactive ovaries 

 contained only Type 1 oocytes (Table 2) from 

 November to January. These low frequencies of 

 mature summer G. lineatus oocytes may suggest 

 spawning continued at a reduced frequency dur- 

 ing this period. A more plausible explanation 

 might be that these oocytes will ovulate early in 

 the next spawning season. It thus appears that 

 some early ovulating G. lineatus oocytes initiated 

 yolk deposition late in the previous spawning 

 season and remained over summer. It may be 

 energetically advantageous for these yolk filled 

 eggs to remain over summer as opposed to re- 

 sorbing them. 



As G. lineatus ranges from Baja California to 

 British Columbia and S. politus from Baja 

 California to Oregon (Miller and Lea 1972), my 

 data may be useful for subsequent investigations 

 to determine geographic variation in reproduction 

 for these species. 



Acknowledgments 



I thank Camm G. Swift (Los Angeles County 

 Museum of Natural History) for his helpful sug- 

 gestions. Several personnel, Kenneth L. Bosworth, 

 George R. Spencer, and George Thomas, of the 

 Scattergood Steam Plant were both accommodat- 

 ing and courteous. Lester Neiper helped in the 

 collection of specimens from Santa Monica Pier. 



Literature Cited 



Miller, D. J., and R. N. Lea. 



1972. Guide to the coastal marine fishesof California. Calif. 

 Dep. Fish Game, Fish Bull. 157, 235 p. 



984 



Skogsberg, T. 



1939. The fishes of the family Sciaenidae (croakers) of 

 California. Calif. Dep. Fish Game, Fish Bull. 54, 62 p. 

 Yamamoto, K., and F. Yamazaki. 



1961. Rhythm of development in the oocyte of the goldfish, 

 Carassius auratus. Bull. Fac. Fish., Hokkaido Univ. 

 12:93-110. 



Stephen R. Goldberg 



Department of Biology 

 Whittier College 

 Whittier, CA 90608 



FOOD OF FIVE SPECIES OF 



COOCCURRING FLATFISHES ON 



OREGON'S CONTINENTAL SHELF 



The purpose of this paper is to describe and to 

 compare the food of five flatfish species that 

 actually cooccurred at one specific time and place 

 on the central Oregon continental shelf: English 

 sole, Parophrys vetulus Girard; rex sole, Glyptoce- 

 phalus zachirus Lockington; rock sole, Lepidop- 

 setta bilineata (Ayres); petrale sole, Eopsetta 

 jordani (Lockington); and Pacific sanddab, Citha- 

 richthys sordidus (Girard). These demersal fishes 

 are common along the west coast of North Amer- 

 ica, their ranges overlapping between southern 

 California and the Gulf of Alaska (Hart 1973). 

 Parophrys vetulus, C. sordidi(s, and L. bilineata 

 occur mainly on the inner continental shelf. Eop- 

 setta jordani is fished commercially on its feeding 

 grounds (73-128 m), and in deep water (311-457 m) 

 where spawning occurs (Forrester 1969). Glyp- 

 tocephalus zachirus has a broad bathymetric 

 range— it is common off Oregon and Washington 

 from 90 to 550 m (Alverson et al. 1964). Off Oregon 

 it was the second most numerous member of a 

 species association ranging from 119 to 199 m, on 

 an average sediment type of 69^ sand, 19*^ silt, 

 and 12% clay (Day and Pearcy 1968). In that same 

 study, C. sordidus and P. vetulus composed 80.3% 

 of a species association of fishes in shallower water 

 (42-73 m) on a sandy bottom. According to Alver- 

 son (1960), L. bilineata is common on sandy or 

 gravel bottom. The five flatfish species attain 

 maximum sizes ranging from 410 mm for C. 

 sordidus to 700 mm for E. jordani (Hart 1973). 



Pearcy and Vanderploeg (1973) listed major food 

 items— combined from several locations, seasons, 

 and years-for most of the above species. That 



