BECKER: SEDIMENT AND SEX SEGREGATION IN ENGLISH SOLE 



1973). These patterns are found for numerous 

 pleuronectids and are thought to allow females to 

 outgrow predators and maximize fecundity (Roff 

 1982). Female English sole may therefore select 

 different habitats than males to support their differ- 

 ential reproductive requirements. Because many 

 characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrate assem- 

 blages (i.e., the primary prey of English sole) are 

 related to sediment character (Gray 1974; Rhoads 

 1974; Pearson and Rosenberg 1978), selection of 

 habitats that differ in sediment grain size provides 

 females with different prey spectra and energetic 

 potentials than are available to males. In addition, 

 differential habitat selection would reduce the poten- 

 tial of competition for food between sexes. 



In summary, sex segregation by English sole was 

 strongly associated with the grain-size character- 

 istics of bottom sediments. This association was 

 persistent across a variety of sampling conditions, 

 including different years, seasons, embayments, and 

 depths. Fish age did not appear to influence the 

 observed association. Results of this study provide 

 the first documentation of the influence of sediment 

 character on sex segregation in a pleuronectid, and 

 suggest that this relationship should be considered 

 in future studies of English sole and, perhaps, other 

 pleuronectids as well. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The 1981-82 survey was supported by the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

 (Contract NA80RAD00050), and was part of a 

 dissertation submitted to the School of Fisheries of 

 the University of Washington (Seattle) in partial 

 fulfillment of a Ph.D. degree for the author; A. J. 

 Mearns was the Project Officer. The 1984 survey 

 was supported under Cooperative Agreement No. 

 CX810926-01-0 between the U.S. Environmental 

 Protection Agency and the State of Washington 

 Department of Ecology; J. D. Krull of Ecology was 

 the Project Manager. I thank R. A. Pastorok and 

 two anonymous reviewers for their helpful sugges- 

 tions on the manuscript. 



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