FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO. 1 



that they use this area as a nursery during early 

 benthic life as has been suggested for G. cyno- 

 glossus on the east coast (Powles and Kohler 1970; 

 Markle 1975). Rex sole smaller than and larger 

 than 180 mm TL have broadly overlapping depth 

 ranges off Oregon (Demory 1971), unlike G. 

 cynoglossus which occupies distinct depth zones as 

 juveniles and adults (Powles and Kohler 1970). 



Juvenile E. jordani were uncommon in bottom 

 trawls. Only two small individuals (65 and 83 mm 

 SL) were found in 115 beam trawl collections. We 

 found only 28 small petrale sole (62-107 mm TL), 

 collected in October and November at 64-82 m 

 depth, from extensive otter trawl collections off 

 Newport in 1972. Examination of otoliths indi- 

 cated these petrale sole were all in their first year 

 of growth. This suggests that metamorphosis of 

 this species occurs during the fall of their first year 

 when they settle to the bottom of the inner con- 

 tinental shelf off Oregon. Our findings are cor- 

 roborated by those of other researchers. In British 

 Columbia waters, Ketchen and Forrester (1966) 

 found a few 0-age petrale sole only at depths of 

 18-90 m between May and August. From exten- 

 sive otter trawl collections off northern California 

 Gregory and Jow (1976) reported 17 petrale sole 

 (60-100 mm TL) in September and October be- 

 tween 28 and 73 m. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



We thank R. L. Demory who reviewed the 

 manuscript and provided important information 

 on the early life of Dover sole, E. M. Burreson who 

 conducted the otter trawl sampling off Newport, 

 and N. A. Naplin and J. R. Dunn for data on 

 diameters of rex sole eggs. This research was 

 sponsored by NOAA Office of Sea Grant, No. 04- 

 5-158-2. 



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