The lines in the figure give the average growth for each locality. 
In each place some fishes grow rapidly and some slowly, to some 
extent because the temperature is not the same everywhere on the 
bottom in each region. In Chedabucto bay it is warmer in the 
shallower water than in the deeper and the fish that come nearer 
the shore will grow more rapidly. In fact a solitary individual from 
this bay showed a growth nearly as rapid as that shown by those 
from Passamaquoddy bay. In most regions some fishes at least 
will be living where they have the best growth, not however in 
Passamaquoddy bay since owing to the heavy tides the whole body 
of water reaches nearly the same temperature, nor perhaps in the 
Bay of Islands since the sides of such a deep fjord are too steep to 
give suitable bottom at the depths where the temperature is best. 
Speaking generally the best places for the growth of this fish are the 
outer coast of Nova Scotia including the outer fishing banks, and 
parts of the gulf of St. Lawrence, and in these waters the best 
fishery is to be expected except where they are crowded out by 
other fishes. 
What is the greatest age that the plaice reaches? It is certainly 
able to live as long as 24 years and probably 30 years should be 
assigned as the upper limit. Unlike man it continues to grow 
throughout life, the length increasing up to the time of death. 
There is nothing to show when the factor of old age comes in to 
assure death. 
It is very important to know how much the fish gains in weight 
each year, for from the standpoint of food we are more interested 
in knowing how much a fish weighs than how long it is. We can 
readily find out the gain in weight, since we know the yearly increase 
in length as well as the relation between length and weight (figure 4). 
From these we have calculated the yearly gain in weight for the 
average growth in Passamaquoddy bay and in the Bay of Islands, 
as well as for what we have called the ‘optimum’ growth. Figure 13 
shows the result in a graphic manner. In Passamaquoddy bay the 
amount gained in weight annually increases very rapidly from year 
to year until by the fifth year 11 ounces are gained. In the Bay of 
Islands the annual gain is scarcely half an ounce even by the seventh 
year. The ‘optimum’ growth shows a steady increase in the gain 
in weight per year, which finally amounts to as much as in the fifth 
year in Passamaquoddy bay and the total weight of the fish be- 
25 
