sole
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Sole ( Solea solea ) |
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| Solea solea | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The sole ( Solea solea ) belongs to the order of the flatfish (Pleuronectiformes) and is one of the most sought-after and most expensive food fish .
distribution
It occurs in the North Sea , in the Skagerrak and Kattegat , on the coast of Norway south of Trondheim , around the British Isles , in the English Channel , in the Biscay , around the Iberian Peninsula , in the Mediterranean Sea , in the Marmara Sea and in the western Black Sea . In the eastern Atlantic, their distribution area extends south to Senegal . It lives near the coast, on sandy and soft soils, usually at depths of 10 to 60, more rarely up to 150 meters deep.
features
The sole is a right-eyed flatfish (i.e. both eyes are on the right side of the body), grows to a maximum of 60 to 70 cm long (usually only 35 cm) and a maximum of 26 years old. Males usually stay a bit smaller. The sole has an oval, elongated body and a rounded head shape. The upper side is gray-brown to red-brown with indistinct dark spots, its underside is light gray to white. The nostrils are on the blind side, wide apart and small. The dorsal fin begins on the head in front of the eyes. The pectoral fins are of the same length, the part of the pectoral fin remote from the body on the side of the eye sooty black. The rear part of the caudal fin is also darker than the rest of the body.
- Fin formula : dorsal 6–9, anal 61–74, pectoral (eye side) 9–10.
Way of life
The sole is a nocturnal loner and feeds on bristle worms , thin-shelled mussels and small crustaceans . The prey is tracked down with the help of thread-like sensory buds on the blind side of the mouth. The fish spend the winter in deeper water layers.
Reproduction
To spawn, sole migrates to certain spawning areas. They are pelagic during migrations . The spawning season in the Mediterranean falls in February, around Ireland and on the coast of southern England they spawn from May to June and in the North Sea, especially in the Wadden Sea , the Skagerrak and Kattegat from April to June. Spawning takes place at depths of 20 to 50 meters with water temperatures of 6 to 12 ° C. The females lay 100,000 to 150,000 eggs that are 3–4 mm in diameter. After about 10 days, the larvae hatch and are 3.5 mm long. At first they live pelagically. After 4–6 weeks the metamorphosis to the young flatfish takes place. The fry are then about 12 to 14 mm long and then move on to bottom life. The fish reach sexual maturity with 3 to 5 years and a length of 25 to 35 cm.
Fishing and exploitation
The sole is caught with normal trawls , beam trawls and gill nets , usually as bycatch when fishing for plaice . She has firm, white flesh. It can be steamed or fried and is usually served as a whole fish. The expensive sole (Engl. Dover sole ) can easily with the not so valuable lemon sole (Engl. Lemon sole are confused). Their meat is not quite as firm and has an intense taste, and the top is darker to black. According to the Federal Research Center for Fisheries , at the end of 2006 there were “at least 60,000 tons of sole” in European sea areas.
literature
- Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: The marine fish of Europe. In the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07804-3 .
Web links
- Sole on Fishbase.org (English)