Maturation and Spawning of the Flathead Flounder Hippoglossoides duhius off the coast of Gangwon Province, East Sea of Korea

摘要

Flathead flounder Hippoglossoides dubius is a commercially important fish in the coastal waters of Gangwon Province, which is its spawning ground and breeding habitat. A total of 1,669 gonads were sampled monthly from February 2011 to May 2013 to investigate ecological characteristics, such as variations in maturation and spawning by gonad index, visual maturity stage, histological observations and oocyte diameter. Males were numerically dominant over females in the fishing grounds year round. The spawning season was from January to April, and the peak was from February to March. Oocyte number as a measure of fecundity was between 27,372 and 915,209 eggs with a length range of 26.0-48.7 cm TL, while the largest oocyte grew to 0.9-1.4mm in egg diameter during its spawning season. The relationship between fecundity and total length was F=0.0016TL. The smallest mature lengths of the females and males were 28.4 and 22.6 cm respectively, and the 50% mature lengths of females and males were 32.9,26.9 cmrespectively.