Several Biological Aspects of the Witch Flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus (L.)) in the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank Region

Abstract

Witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) collected in the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank region during Northeast Fisheries Center bottom trawl surveys in 1980-83 were used to describe growth, length-weight relationships, fecundity, maturation, spawning and distribution. Size-atage data provided the following von Bertalanffy growth parameters: Lnf= 58.05 cm (total length), K = 0.15 and to = -0.01 for males, and 61.99 em, 0.15, and 0.05, for females. Median length at maturity, estimated from probit analysis, was 27.6 cm for males and 33.5 cm for females. Estimates of fecundity, ranging from 48 800 eggs for a 31 cm fish to 508 300 eggs fora 60 cm fish, were comparable to those for fish from Canadian waters. Two areas of concentrated spawning activity in the western and northern portions of the Gulf of Maine were identified. Juvenile and adult witch flounder appeared to be segregated by depth, but the relative position of the life stages with respect to depth varied seasonally.