Biological features of common fish species in Olyutorsky-Navarin region and the adjacent areas of the Bering Sea: 3. Righteye flounders (Pleuronectidae)

Abstract

Biological features of the seven abundant commercial species—the Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis, the Greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides, the Alaska plaice Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus, the northern rock sole Lepidopsetta polyxystra, the yellowfin sole Limanda aspera, the flathead sole Hippoglossoides elassodon, and the Bering flounder H. robustus (Pleuronectidae)—have been studied for a 20-year period (1995−2015). These species are present in the northwestern Bering Sea in the summer–autumn season; they form the gatherings in Olyutorsky-Navarin region. The size-weight spectra of the fish caught by different fishing gear has been analyzed, the peculiarities of the linear growth and the weight gain, as well as the spawning period and scale and the spawning conditions, have been described. The largest halibut specimens have been registered in the bottom setlines and gill nets, while flounders were in snurrevad catches; the smallest specimens have been observed in trawl catches. The abundant year-class in most of the studied species is seen well on the long-term plots of the fish size spectra and is tracked by the decrease of their biological parameters. The species that demand vast growing grounds (Pacific halibut, Alaska plaice, northern rock sole, and yellowfin sole) are characterized by a smaller average body size of the fish sampled in the coastal waters due to the prevalence of the young specimens in this area.