Dover Sole
Microstomus pacificus
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Photo contributed by:
Daniel W. Gotshall
To email him click here.
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Aquaculture Potential
The Dover sole is a high value species that supports a large fishery in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, Love states, "Dovers are the most important flatfish in the Oregon commercial fishery" (1996). There has been increasing interest in culturing flatfish in general. As of the this website's release, there has been no announcement of aquaculture research for this species. It may be a potential species in the future if the wild stocks significantly decline.
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In-depth Information Regarding this Species
| U.S. Range in the Pacific Ocean |
Bering Sea to Baja (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983) |
| Substrate |
Sand or mud (Love 1996)
Mud or silt (Pearcy 1978 in Horton 1989)
Mud (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983) |
| Depth range (meters) |
18–914 (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983) |
| General Temperature Range (°C) |
6 (year class better when it is this temperature) (Forrester and Thompson 1969 in Horton 1989)
24.9 (upper limit where 50% die) (Ames et al 1978 in Horton 1989) |
| Average Maximum Overall Length (cm) |
76 (Love 1996, Eschmeyer and Herald 1983) |
| Length When Harvested (cm) |
24.1 (Demory 1975 in Horton 1989) |
| Weight When Harvested (kg) |
136 g (Demory 1975 in Horton 1989) |
| Overall Length to Age Ratio (cm/age in years) |
30.5/3–4 years
45.7/11+ years (Love 1996)
11.4/2
24.1/4/136 g
35.5/8/450g (Demory 1975 in Horton 1989) |
| Overall Maximum Age (years) |
24–45 (Demory 1972, Chilton and Beamish 1982 both in Horton 1989) |
| Maximum Age for Males (years) |
58 (Love 1996) |
| Maximum Age for Females (years) |
53 (Love 1996) |
| Age when Harvested (years) |
4 (Demory 1975 in Horton 1989) |
| Overall Growth Rate |
Same until age 5 when female begins to grow faster than male (Horton 1989)
Females grow faster and get larger than males (Love 1996) |
| Overall Age at Maturity (years) |
5 (begin to mature off California) (Frey 1971 in Horton 1989) |
| Male Age at Maturity (years) |
7 (all mature) (Hagerman 1952 in Horton 1989) |
| Female Age at Maturity (years) |
7 (average) (Love 1996)
11 (all mature) (Hagerman 1952, Harry 1959, Demory 1975 all in Horton 1989) |
| Male Length at Maturity (cm) |
33.0 (50% mature)
40.6 (all mature) (Love 1996)
30 (first mature)
39 (all mature) (Hagerman 1952 in Horton 1989) |
| Female Length at Maturity (cm) |
35.6 (50% mature)
45.7 (all mature)
33.02 (average maturity size) (Love 1996)
33 (first individuals are mature)
38 (50% mature)
45 (all mature) (Hagerman 1952, Harry 1959, Demory 1975 all in Horton 1989)
33 (50% mature) (Hunter et al. 1992 in Stickney et al. 1995) |
| Fecundity |
52,000–256,000 (Love 1996)
37,000 (when 36 cm total length)
265,000 (when 57.5 cm total length) (Harry 1959, Frey 1971 both in Horton 1989)
83,000 for 1 kg female (Hunter et al. 1992 in Stickney et al.1995)
39,748–167,046 (Yoklavich and Pikitch 1989 in Stickney et al.1995) |
| Time of Year of Spawning |
February–July
April (peak) (Love 1996)
November–March
January and February (peak) (Harry 1959, Hirshberger and Smith 1983 both in Horton 1989)
December–May (Hunter et al. 1992 in Stickney et al. 1995) |
| Number of Spawns per season |
Up to 9 (Love 1996) |
| Description of Eggs |
Buoyant (Norman 1934, Hagerman 1952 both in Horton 1989) |
| Days to Hatch |
10–38 (Love 1996) |
| Habitat where Larvae are found |
Pelagic (Pearcy et al. 1977 in Horton 1989) |
| Days in Larval Stage |
Up to 1 year (Pearcy et al.. 1977 in Horton 1989, Love 1996) |
| Length when Juvenile Settles out (cm) |
5.0 standard length (Horton 1989)
2.5–5.1+ cm (Love 1996) |
| Where and When Juvenile Feeds |
Mostly Annelids (Horton 1989) |
| Adult Food Preference |
Small Clams, Worms, Brittle Stars, Snails, Shrimp (Love 1996)
Not opportunistic
Do not eat vertebrates
Benthic infaunal and epifaunal invertebrates Polychaetes, Ophiuroids, Mollusks (Pearcy and Hancock 1978, Gabriel and Pearcy 1981 both in Horton 1989)
Opportunistic
Infaunal and epifaunal invertebrates
Polychaetes over 90% of diet on clayey silt or silty sand substrate (Pearcy and Hancock 1978 in Stickney et al. 1995)
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| Food Eaten in Laboratory Setting |
Successfully reared on Artemia and rotifers (Bromage, N., R. Shields, M. Gillespie, and R. Johnstone in Nosho, T. and K. Freeman 1994) |
| Additional Laboratory Findings |
Dover sole successfully reared on Artemia and rotifers (Bromage et al. in Nosho and Freeman 1994) |
| Environmental Considerations |
Can live in oxygen minimum zone (Love 1996) |
| Commercial Fishery |
Part of trawl fishery
"Dovers are the most important flatfish in the Oregon commercial fishery." (Love 1996)
Largest contribution of total biomass of flatfish landed (Oregon) (Demory et al. 1976a in Horton 1989)
Important (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983)
High value (Bromage, N., R. Shields, M. Gillespie, and R. Johnstone in Nosho, T. and K. Freeman 1994) |
| Market |
"Excellent quality of flesh..." (Horton 1989) |
| Sold Fresh or Frozen |
Fresh and Frozen (Horton 1989) |
| Style Species is Sold |
Fillets (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983) |
| Shelf-life in Fresh State (days at 40°F) |
Long (Horton 1989) |
| Parasites or Disease |
Nematode (Philometra) (Rohde 1984 in Horton 1989)
Skin tumors, fin erosion and tumors near sewage outfalls (Allen and Mearns 1976 in Horton 1989) |
| Additional Remarks |
Adults and juveniles eat more in summer versus winter (Horton 1989) |
Recent Wild Harvest Data for Oregon
Data from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
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Year
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Total Catch
(Pounds)
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Ex-vessel Value
( U.S. Dollars)
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1989
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19,638,358
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5,472,600
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1990
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16,553,757
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4,531,282
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1991
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19,428,977
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5,974,060
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1992
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13,399,167
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3,739,372
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1993
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14,293,885
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3,879,857
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1994
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8,533,771
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2,535,198
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1995
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7,793,874
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2,599,106
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1996
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10,334,613
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3,273,458
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1997
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8,742,456
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2,642,958
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1998
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8,376,815
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2,877,296
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Photo contributed by:
Douglas F. Markle
Department of Fisheries & Wildlife
Oregon State University
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