![]() In contrast, striped bass, a large predatory fish, prefers a water temperature range from 55° F to 68° F and Bluefish, opportunistic predators that will feed voraciously on almost any prey they can capture including young fish, prefers warm waters above 58 degrees F. One single female typically lays a half million eggs and the optimal water temperature range for their survival is 32 degrees to 50 degrees F. Spawning during the winter allows this flatfish to reproduce when few predators are around to bother, harass, or more importantly gobble up their eggs and young. These frigid conditions might sound foolish for any one fish to endure day in and day out until you realize the winter flounder for a long time has had evolution on their side. In fact, they not only thrive in cold water, this fish even spawns in cold water, when waters are normally ice-cold during the winter and spring, as early as December in North Carolina and as late as June in the Gulf of St. Winter flounders are supreme cold-water fish. With a name like “winter flounder” or “Georges Bank flounder” ( Georges Bank is a large shoal area located between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia) it’s not difficult to figure out this fish loves cold water. ![]() The many names suggest how popular and abundant this fish was at one time along the Northwest Atlantic for coastal people’s subsistence. Winter flounder is also known as Flatfish, Blackback Flounder, Georges Bank Flounder, Rough Flounder, Flounder, Mud Dab, Sole, Gray Sole, or Lemon Sole. A rebuilding plan to rebuild the Georges Bank stock to the target population level is in place with a target date of 2029.Can a cold loving fish continue to exist in urban-suburban waters and in an ever-warming world?.The sector program allows fishermen to form harvesting cooperatives and work together to decide when, where, and how they harvest fish. An optional sector ( catch share) program can be used for winter flounder and other groundfish species.Annual catch limits, based on best available science.Minimum fish sizes to prevent harvest of juvenile fish.Time/Area Closures to protect spawning fish and habitat.Separate management measures for recreational vessels.Permitting requirements for commercial vessels.Winter flounder, along with other groundfish in New England waters, are managed under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan, which includes:.The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission coordinates management of winter flounder in state waters (0 to 3 miles offshore). NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council manage the fishery in federal waters.waters, the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic stocks. There are three stocks of winter flounder in U.S.Atlantic cod, spiny dogfish, and monkfish prey on adults.Fish (mainly striped bass, bluefish, toadfish, and summer flounder), birds, invertebrates, winter skate, and marine mammals prey on larval and juvenile winter flounder.They feed on small invertebrates, shrimp, clams, and worms.Their small mouths limit what they can eat.Winter flounder feed during the day because they depend on sight to locate prey.The growth and survival rates of larvae and juveniles depend on several factors, including temperature, salinity, water quality, and the availability of food.After weeks of adapting to living on the bottom, their left eye migrates to the right side of their body and their metamorphosis is complete.Five to six weeks after they hatch, larvae settle to the bottom to begin their transformation into juveniles.Newly hatched larvae have one eye on each side of the head.They deposit their eggs on sandy bottoms and algal mats at night, usually about 40 times every spawning season. ![]()
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