291 
National Marine 
Fisheries Service 
NOAA 
Fishery Bulletin 
established in 1881 •<?. 
Spencer F. Baird 
First U S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
Reproductive ecology and size-dependent 
fecundity in the petrale sole (Eopsetta jordani) 
in waters of California, Oregon, and Washington 
Email address for contact author: lyndsey.lefebvre@noaa.gov 
1 Institute of Marine Sciences 
University of California Santa Cruz 
1156 High Street 
Santa Cruz, California 95064 
Present address for contact author: Integrated Statistics Inc. 
Population and Ecosystems Monitoring and Analysis Division 
Northeast Fisheries Science Center 
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 
166 Water Street 
Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 
Abstract —The petrale sole (Eopsetta 
jordani) is a commercially and ecologi¬ 
cally important flatfish found through¬ 
out the continental shelf from California 
through British Columbia, Canada. 
Although stock assessments are rou¬ 
tinely conducted along the West Coast 
of the United States for this population, 
these assessments have depended on 
limited data for estimating reproductive 
output. In this analysis, the reproductive 
strategy for this species was revisited, 
fecundity estimates were updated, and 
size-dependent fecundity relationships 
were established from fish collected off 
California and the Pacific Northwest. 
Results of histological analysis indicate 
that petrale sole exhibit a determinate 
batch spawning strategy, with potential 
annual fecundity (PAF) set prior to the 
release of eggs over the course of sev¬ 
eral spawning events. Both PAF and 
relative PAF (weight-specific fecundity) 
increased significantly with maternal 
length and weight. Regional differences 
in the strength of the relationship 
between relative PAF and size indicate 
that the maternal effect is stronger in 
the Pacific Northwest; however, more 
data are necessary to confirm regional 
patterns. Because reproductive output 
was not proportionate with female size, 
fisheries managers should consider 
using relative PAF in determining the 
reproductive potential of this stock. 
Manuscript submitted 15 November 2018. 
Manuscript accepted 10 September 2019. 
Fish. Bull. 117:291-302 (2019). 
Online publication date: 30 September 2019. 
doi: 10.7755/FB. 117.4.2 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Lyndsey S. Lefebvre (contact author) 1,2 
Cherisa L. Friedlander 2 
John C. Field 2 
2 Fisheries Ecology Division 
Southwest Fisheries Science Center 
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 
110 McAllister Way 
Santa Cruz, California 95060 
The petrale sole (Eopsetta jordani ) 
is a commercially important flatfish 
in the family Pleuronectidae (right¬ 
eyed flounders). Although their range 
extends from Baja California, Mexico, to 
the western Gulf of Alaska, their great¬ 
est abundance and commercial signifi¬ 
cance is generally from Santa Barbara, 
California, through British Columbia, 
Canada (Alverson and Chatwin, 1957; 
CDFW, 2013). Female petrale sole grow 
considerably larger than males and can 
reach a maximum total length (TL) of 
70 cm (although fish larger than 60 cm 
are rarely encountered) and live up to 
31 years (Haltuch et al., 2013; Stawitz 
et al., 2016). Hannah et al. (2002) esti¬ 
mated the length at 50% maturity at 
33 cm (corresponding to an age of 5 
years) for fish collected off Oregon. 
Petrale sole migrate seasonally between 
shallow feeding grounds (with depths 
of 70-200 m), where they disperse 
across the continental shelf from March 
through October, and deeper spawning 
grounds (with depths of 290-440 m), 
where they form discrete aggregations 
along the outer shelf during late fall and 
winter (November-February) (Ketchen 
and Forrester, 1966; CDFW, 2013; 
Stawitz et al., 2016). Tagging data indi¬ 
cate that individuals are capable of dis¬ 
persing several hundred miles, although 
most individuals have high fidelity to 
winter spawning habitats (Ketchen and 
Forrester, 1966; Pedersen, 1975). 
The petrale sole fishery off the U.S. 
Pacific coast has a long history, having 
started in the late 1800s off California 
and Oregon (CDFW, 2013). The first 
stock assessments in U.S. waters eval¬ 
uated only populations north of Cape 
Blanco, Oregon, because of data con¬ 
straints (Turnock et al., 1993; Samp¬ 
son and Lee, 1999), but recent stock 
assessments have assumed a single 
coast-wide stock (Haltuch and Hicks, 
2009; Haltuch et al., 2013). The petrale 
