Johnson et al.: Fecundity and egg weight in Pleuronectes vetulus 
241 
Table 5 
Mean values (± SE) of gonadosomatic index (GSI), plama estradiol concentration and plasma vitellogenin concentrations (as 
estimated from plasma alkali-labile phosphate (ALP)) in English sole from four sites in Puget Sound, and results of 2-way analy- 
sis of variance (ANOVA) assessing effects of site and month of collection on these variables. All variables were normalized by log- 
transformation prior to statistical analysis. No significant month-site interactions were observed for either GSI or plasma estra- 
diol concentration, so the interaction term was suppressed in the final model. EH=Eagle Harbor, DW=Duwamish Waterway, 
SI=Sinclair Inlet, and PS=Port Susan. nd=not determined. 
Site 
GSI 
Plasma estradiol 17-p 
(pg/mL) 
Plasma ALP (vitellogenin) 
(mg/mL) 
Dec 
Jan 
Dec 
Jan 
Dec 
Jan 
Port Susan 
5.5 ± 0.7 
15.0 ± 1.4 
5000 ± 600 
12000 ± 1700 
35 ± 3 
nd 
(72=19) 
(72 = 9) 
(72=19) 
(72 =10) 
(72=19) 
Sinclair Inlet 
5.8 ± 0.6 
9.4 ± 0.1.3 
5300 ± 400 
11000 ± 2100 
24 ± 8 
nd 
(n=15) 
(72=4) 
(72=15) 
(72=4) 
(72=19) 
Duwamish Waterway 
6.4 ± 0.7 
11.4 ± 1.3 
3300 ± 400 
9000 ± 900 
29 ± 2 
nd 
(72=17) 
(72=10) 
(72 =17) 
( 72 =10) 
(72 = 17) 
Eagle Harbor 
4.5 ± 0.6 
9.6 ± 1.1 
4900 ± 700 
8500 ± 800 
49+3 
nd 
(72=15) 
(72 = 10) 
(72 =13) 
( 72 =10) 
(72=15) 
2-way ANOVA Results 
Month 
F=65.9 
P=0.0001 
P=49.4 
P=0.0001 
nd 
nd 
Dec < Jan 
Dec 
< Jan 
Site 
F=3.05 
P=0.032 
F= 3.57 
P=0.016 
P=11.25 
P=0.0001 
EH< PS, t=- 
-2.57, P=0.012 
DW < PS, t 
=-2.46, P=0.016 
EH > PS, t=2.86, P=0.006 
SI < PS, *=-3.00, P=0.004 
tive fecundity were significantly related to several 
indicators of nutritional status. Fecundity was posi- 
tively associated with condition factor (P=0.0006) and 
showed a near-significant tendency (P=0.0603) to 
increase with increasing plasma triglyceride levels. 
Relative fecundity was significantly positively asso- 
ciated with plasma triglyceride levels. These rela- 
tionships were also observed when only sole from the 
least contaminated sites (Port Susan and Sinclair 
Inlet) were examined (e.g. for fecundity vs. condition 
factor, £=3.177, P=0.0028, n- 47; for fecundity vs. 
plasma triglyceride concentration, £=1.923, P=0.0647, 
n= 32). In addition, significant positive associations 
were observed between both fecundity and relative 
fecundity and HSI (P=0.0011) when fish from all sites 
were included in the analysis. These associations 
were not apparent when only reference fish were 
examined (e.g. for fecundity vs. HSI, £=0.776, 
P=0.4423, n=47). None of the nutritional factors ex- 
amined were significantly associated with egg 
weight. 
Significant correlations were found between indi- 
cators of contaminant exposure and several of the 
factors related to fish nutritional status (Table 7). 
Hepatosomatic index showed strong positive corre- 
lations with both biliary FAC and tissue PCB con- 
centrations (0.0001 < P < 0.0002), and plasma trig- 
lyceride and glucose levels were significantly posi- 
tively correlated with PCB concentrations in the liver. 
Plasma triglyceride and glucose levels also tended 
to increase as ovarian PCB concentrations increased 
and to decrease as biliary FAC levels increased (0.05 
< P < 0.07), but the correlation was not statistically 
significant at a - 0.05. Condition factor was not sig- 
nificantly correlated with any biomarker of contami- 
nant exposure. No significant correlations were seen 
between either GSI or plasma estradiol concentra- 
tions and either tissue PCB levels or biliary FAC’s. 
However, significant negative correlations were 
found between plasma vitellogenin (ALP) concentra- 
tions and both hepatic and ovarian PCB concentrations. 
Discussion 
Significant intersite differences in both egg weight 
and fecundity were detectable in English sole 
sampled in this study, even after variation in fish 
size and sampling time had been taken into account. 
One notable finding was the tendency for Duwamish 
Waterway and Sinclair Inlet fish to exhibit higher 
age-specific fecundity in comparison with fish from 
Eagle Harbor and Port Susan. This difference ap- 
peared to be due, at least in part, to a larger size at 
age in the Duwamish and Sinclair Inlet fish. Al- 
though additional data, particularly on older fish, 
