lected during the first two weeks of December 

 1985. Eighteen ovaries were spent, while the 

 others were classified as mature ovaries, full of 

 developing oocytes that were distinguishable by 

 the unaided eye. Fifty-seven of the mature 

 ovaries, from fish 345 to 550 mm TL, were used 

 for fecundity assessment; ovaries of the remain- 



ing 22 fish were either poorly preserved or not 

 intact. No hydrated or translucent oocytes were 

 evident in the ovaries used for fecundity. Size- 

 frequency distributions of oocytes from 10 

 mature, prespawning fish were generally bi- 

 modal (Fig. 1). Seven of these ovaries had dis- 

 tinct modes of advanced oocytes; from these 



30 - 

 20 - 

 10 - 

 

 30 h 

 20 



10 

 > 



^ 30 



a 



^ 20 

 u_ 



^ 10 



30 

 20 h 



10 





 30 

 20 h 



10 



N = 304 oocytes 

 TL = 345 mm 



i 



4- 



N=296 

 TL=426mm 



"V-T— T 



N= 142 

 TL = 43I mm 



L^ 



C^- 



N = 313 

 TL = 444 mm 



V^- 



N=298 

 TL = 504mm 



Ufl 



N = 220 

 TL = 404mm 



N = 270 

 TL=426mm 



■_ 



N = 254 

 TL =433 mm 



"I , rffh 



N = 277 

 TL = 475 mm 



iL 



N=3I9 

 TL=550mm 



L 



JlC 



R- 



0.3 0.6 09 1.2 0.3 06 0.9 

 OOCYTE DIAMETER (mm) 



Figure 1. — Size-frequency distributions of 

 •-' oocyte diameter from ovaries of 10 Dover 

 sole. Total length of fish and number of 

 measured oocytes are indicated. 



990 



