Ovary-free body weight {W; 185-1,490 g) and 

 total body length (L; 287-550 mm) from a sample 

 of 115 female Dover sole were fit with a non- 

 linear, least squares power function: 



^^ = (3.34 X 10-'')L3"'^ 



0.96. 



Ovary-free body weight was subsequently esti- 

 mated from total length for those Dover sole that 

 were filleted prior to sampling. Fecundity was 

 expressed as a linear, least squares function of 

 ovary-free body weight, resulting in the fitted 

 equation: 



133.41^ 



- 21,890.3 



A^ = 32, 



0.81 



where A'^ is number of ovaries. Although weight 

 was estimated from total length of fish, this fit- 

 ted equation is adequate because the variance of 

 errors associated with estimated weight is very 

 small when compared with the variance in the 

 weights themselves (Draper and Smith 1981, p. 

 124). Weight-specific fecundity averaged 102.4 

 eggs/g ovary-free body weight (SD = 22.0, A^ = 

 32). 



The Dover sole used for determining fecundity 

 were 11-34 years of age. Fecundity and age 

 were not as strongly correlated as fecundity and 

 length or weight, yet fecundity generally in- 

 creased with increasing age (Fig. 2). The rela- 

 tionship between fecundity and age, from the 32 



fish evaluated in this study, was best fit by a 

 nonlinear, least squares exponential function: 



F = 25,080 gCosseA) 



0.65, 



where A is age of the fish in years. 



Stage of maturity was determined for 370 

 female Dover sole, ranging in size from 235 to 

 489 mm TL (Fig. 3). Because samples were col- 

 lected from processing plants, many small fish 

 had been discarded at sea and were poorly 

 represented. Emphasis was placed on obtaining 

 information from fish below fillet size (320 mm 

 TL). Nearly 99% of the fish examined were 

 classified as sexually mature; 67.2% of these 

 were spent, and 32.5% contained ovaries with 

 advanced, yolked oocytes that were clearly dis- 

 cernible upon macroscopic inspection. Only four 

 fish (305-318 mm TL) were immature, and one 

 fish was in a resting stage. Advanced oocytes 

 occurred in fish of all lengths. This relationship 

 suggests that fish were maturing at a much 

 smaller size than that reported by Harry (1959; 

 Fig. 3). State of maturity seems to be depen- 

 dent on the size of the fish. Frequencies of fish 

 in five 5 cm length gi-oups (24-28; 29-33; 34-38; 

 39-43; and 44-48 cm) and in two states of 

 maturity (advanced oocytes and spent ovaries) 

 were arranged in a 2 x 5 contingency table; the 

 independence of total length and state of ma- 

 turity was tested. Significantly more of the 

 small fish were spent (Chi-square = 78.76; P < 



60 



LU 



o 



LlI 



or 



50 - 



V 40 



30 



20 



10 







n Spent 



S Mature, developing 



first 

 mature 



Immature 



T I ? T I 



260 



HARRY (1959)- 



50% 

 mature 



100 7o 

 mature 



ll 



T T T r 



300 



340 380 420 



TOTAL LENGTH (mm) 



460 



Figure 3. — Length frequency of 370 female Dover sole at three stages of maturity. Comparative information from Harry (1959) 



is indicated. 



992 



