1010 



Fishery Bulletin 97(4), 1999 



 



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between males and females. Unlike Breder, and in 

 thousands of observed encounters, we never observed 

 females initiating spawning activities. Breder ac- 

 knowledged that his relatively small tanks may have 

 altered normal behavioral patterns and was correct 

 in predicting that males would be more active than 

 females in a more open environment. In fact, males 

 attempted to initiate spawning in the laboratory long 

 before and after females were receptive. A similar 

 phenomenon most likely occurs in the field, where 

 males are ripe and capable of spawning for a longer 



period of time than females. Similarly, Rijnsdorp 

 ( 1989) has observed that male plaice are in spawn- 

 ing condition for a period twice as long as that for 

 females. As in our observations with winter floun- 

 der, Baynes et al. (1994) observed that males of 

 Microstomus were much more active than females, 

 and male attempts to initiate spawning were often 

 rejected. 



Male winter flounder were able to detect the pres- 

 ence of a spawning female from distances of at least 

 5-10 m in the research aquarium and frequently con- 



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