THE ROLE OF ESTUARINE AND OFFSHORE NURSERY AREAS FOR 

 YOUNG ENGLISH SOLE, PAROPHRYS VETULUS GIRARD, 



OF OREGON 



E. E. Krygier 1 and W. G. Pearcy 2 



ABSTRACT 



Our trawling studies confirm that age group English sole are common in shallow waters along the open 

 coast as well as in estuaries of Oregon. Both areas appear to be important nursery areas for this species. 

 Metamorphosing English sole were recruited to Yaquina Bay over many months between November and 

 June during the 5 years studied. Seasonal trends in abundance of these transforming fish were rather 

 similar to both Yaquina Bay and open coastal stations. Transforming individuals, however, were found 

 earlier in the fall and later in the spring and summer along the open coast than in Yaquina Bay. 



Based on catch curves, the densities (no. m" 2 ) of juvenile English sole were much higher in Yaquina 

 Bay than along the open coast. Transforming sole (20-25 mm) were an exception. They were sometimes 

 most abundant at the open coast location. Increasing densities of 20-40 mm length fish in the Yaquina 

 Bay catches were accompanied by decreased catches of this size group at the open coast site This sug- 

 gests immigration of a broad size range of both transforming and fully transformed individuals into Yaquina 

 Bay. 



English sole, Parophrys vetulus Girard 1854, is a ma- 

 jor component of the catches in the northeastern 

 Pacific trawl fishery, usually ranking second only to 

 Dover sole, Microstomas pacificus, in annual land- 

 ings off Oregon (Barss 1976 3 ; Demory et al. 1976 4 ). 

 It ranges from Baja California to Unimak Island in 

 western Alaska, with commercial quantities at 

 depths of 128 m or less (Hart 1973). Tagging studies 

 have revealed a series of relatively discrete stocks 

 of English sole off California, Oregon, Washington, 

 and British Columbia (Ketchen 1956; Forrester 1969; 

 Jow 1969; Pattie 1969; Barss 1976 fn. 3). 



Spawning of English sole is protracted, usually ex- 

 tending from September through April, and is often 

 variable in seasonal intensity within and among 

 spawning seasons (Budd 1940; Ketchen 1956; Harry 

 1959; Jow 1969; Laroche and Richardson 1979). 

 Much of this variability among years may be related 

 to upwelling and bottom temperatures (Kruse and 

 Tyler 1983). Spawning concentrations of adult 

 English sole were found in the fall off the central 

 Oregon coast at depths of 70-110 m (Hewitt 1980). 



'College of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, 

 OR; present address: Alaska Trailers Association, 130 Seward 

 Street, Juneau, AK 99801. 



2 College of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 

 97731. 



3 Barss, W. H. 1976. The English sole Oreg. Dep. Fish Wildl., 

 Inf. Rep. 76-1, 7 p. 



4 Demory, R. L., M. J. Hosie, N. Ten Eyck, and B. O. Forsberg. 

 1976. Marine resource surveys on the continental shelf off Oregon, 

 1971-74. Oreg. Dep. Fish Wildl., 49 p. 



English sole are fecund, producing 327,600- 

 2,100,000 eggs, depending on the size of female (Ket- 

 chen 1947; Harry 1959). Eggs are pelagic and hatch 

 in about 4V2 d at 10° C (Alderdice and Forrester 

 1968). Larvae are often abundant during late winter 

 and early spring in coastal waters of Oregon (Rich- 

 ardson and Pearcy 1977; Mundy 1984). Larval abun- 

 dance may fluctuate greatly among years, possibly 

 due to annual differences in ocean conditions 

 (Laroche and Richardson 1979; Mundy 1984). The 

 pelagic phase lasts 8-10 wk (Ketchen 1956; Laroche 

 et al. 1982), and most individuals complete metamor- 

 phosis and acquire the morphology of benthic pleu- 

 ronectids at 20 mm SL and 120 d of age (Ahlstrom 

 and Moser 1975; Rosenberg and Laroche 1982). 



While early larval stages are rarely found in estu- 

 aries (Misitano 1970; Pearcy and Myers 1974), trans- 

 forming larvae and early juvenile stages of English 

 sole are common in estuaries (Westrheim 1955; 

 Smith and Nitsos 1969; Olsen and Pratt 1973; Pearcy 

 and Myers 1974; Misitano 1976; Toole 1980; Bayer 

 1981) and shallow protected bays (Ketchen 1956; 

 Kendall 1966; Van Cleve and El-Sayed 1969). Young 

 English sole are known to utilize 13 estuaries along 

 the Oregon coast and were absent in only 3 small 

 estuaries surveyed along the southern Oregon coast. 5 

 Villadolid (1927, as cited by Misitano 1970) captured 



6 Report of estuary surveys, July-August 1972. Fish Comm. Oreg. 

 Intern. Rep. GS-73-1, 14 p. 



Manuscript accepted March 1985. 



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