Year-class variations of American plaice ( Hippoglossoides platessoides) and yellowtail flounder ( Limanda ferruginea) in the Grand Banks and the abundance of other commercial fish

Abstract

The present study analyses the relationships between the recruitment of a species and adult populations of other species. The hypothesis is that reproduction products of some species may be food for the first stages of other species. In a previous paper we obtained a significant positive correlation between cod year-class size in NAFO Div. 3NO and American plaice spawning biomass in Div. 3LNO. Following the same method in this study, positive and significant correlations between plaice recruitment and yellowtail flounder, mackerel and redfish adult biomass values were found, but not between yellowtail recruitment and adult biomass values of the other species studied. These results agree with the idea that the American plaice is an integral component of the Grand Bank ecosystem.