Yellowfin sole

Pacific dab ( Limanda aspera )

The Pacific or Rough Dab ( Limanda aspera ) is a species of the family of flatfish ( Pleuronectidae ). It comes in the North Pacific from the coast of Korea, Japan over the Bering Sea to Canada, and is fished commercially and by anglers.

Features

Pacific dab reach a length of up to 52 cm and a weight of up to 1.7 kg. Your body is colored relatively broad and brownish. The fins are monochrome or they have small dark spots or streaks. Young animals also point to the head and body dark spots. The mouth is small with a slightly longer snout. The maxilla less than one- third of the head length. The teeth are conical and blunt as well as the jaw on the blind side develops stronger. The top of the head is flat.

The lateral line has over the pectoral fin to a significant curvature. Above her are 74-90 scales. The dorsal fin starts on the rear edge of the eye, and has 61 to 77 in soft rays. The caudal fin has rounded corners. The anal fin has 48 to 58 soft rays, the blunt- pointed pectoral fins have 9 to 13 The gills Reuse counts on the first arch 3-9 plus 5 to 10

Way of life

In summer, the Pacific dab colonize predominantly sandy shallow water to about 50 meters depth. They are ground -dwelling, but occasionally migrate to higher areas of the water column. In autumn and winter the animals gather in dense schools at depths from 100 to 270 meters, possibly to escape the cold surface water. When prey are mainly invertebrates, which are taken from the substrate or from the surface, but also free-swimming crustaceans and small fish. Main predators are humans next to the halibut and the Northern Fur Seal.

Spawning is emitted mainly in June and July. The, the female one to three million eggs are free floating, as the larvae up to the age of about four to five months. With a length of about 17 millimeters, they are changing the typical flatfish form and soil inhabiting.

The presumed maximum age is 26 years.

Use

Pacific dabs are caught with bottom trawls and lines and markets frozen. Main fishing nation is the USA.