American plaice (fish) : The plaice Canadian or halibut dwarf is a saltwater fish, Also called plaice ou Sun (Pleuronectidae family – Scientific name: Hippoglossoides platessoides). In English, this fish has the name from american plaice, canadian plaice, flounder, sand dab, plaice, dab or blackback. In Acadian French, it is called please.
Range: American plaice are found on both sides of the North Atlantic: from southern Labrador and the Grand Banks to off Rhode Island, off Greenland, Iceland and Spitsbergen to the Sleeve.
It usually does not exceed 55 cm, however, one specimen found off Nova Scotia near Sable Island measured 74 cm and weighed 6,4 kg. It is a dextral (right-handed) fish, with the right flank ranging from red to greyish-brown and the left flank bluish-white. Small specimens have dark spots on the edge of the body. It can be distinguished from other dextral flatfish in eastern Canada by its large mouth, nearly straight lateral line (slightly arched near the pectoral fin), and rounded tail. Her chair is slightly yellowish compared to that of witch flounder, which is whiter, and its filet is rounder than that of the latter. The specimens of about 30 cm can be cooked whole.
American plaice like bottoms of fine sand or soft mud; it can tolerate relatively low salinity and survive at -1°C, but does not venture into waters above 23°C. In winter, it goes to deeper water, in the warmer layers, until April and, in summer, it enjoys the cooler waters of the coasts.
40 cm females and 25 cm males are mature, females lay 30-60 thousand eggs per spawning. Spawning takes place in different territories, depending on the season, with egg hatching requiring a temperature of around 000°C for 4 to 11 days. After spawning, several large females from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Newfoundland coast become gelatinous, having lost a lot of protein. THE fry pelagics, eat diatoms (algues) and small copepods. The small plaice on the bottom feed on small shellfish, such as mysids, amphipods (*) and shrimp, then, growing up,sea urchins, brittle star (starfish), Basque berets, mollusks pelecypods and gastropods, worms, sea squirts (**) and occasionally small fishAs sandeel, and the capelin.
(*) Amphipods: small shellfish one size (usually
(**) Ascidian: Marine animal (tunicates), in the shape of a wineskin, which usually attaches itself by extensions to surrounding objects. THE purple is an ascidian.
American plaice are preyed upon by large fish, such as cod and halibut, and also, at a younger age, smaller fish, such as the hemitripter, the lycode and the stingray. It is also the host of parasitic worms (nematodes).
It is a fish of commercial importance to Canadian fisheries; 132 tonnes were caught in Quebec in 2005, which is less than witch or winter flounder in the same year, according to figures from the MAPAQ.
See Plaice, Winter flounder, witch flounder.