Arrowtooth Flounder Research
Arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) are
a relatively large flatfish. At present, data on many basic aspects of arrowtooth
flounder life history such as size and age of sexual maturity are lacking.
However, spawning fish have been observed from December through February. In
Alaska waters, arrowtooth flounder are distributed over the continental shelf
through age 4 and then at older ages disperse to occupy both the continental
shelf and the slope .
Arrowtooth flounder range from central
California to the eastern Bering Sea and currently are the most abundant fish
in the Gulf of Alaska. The huge increase in biomass observed in the 1990s resulted
from strong year-classes produced in the 1980s. Because of their abundance,
arrowtooth flounder are of substantial ecological importance at higher trophic
levels in the Gulf of Alaska food web and have been identified as a significant
food source for Steller sea lions, occurring in their diet 21%-35% of the time
in the area around Kodiak Island. Arrowtooth flounder are also known to be
voracious predators of juvenile walleye pollock.
Little effort has been directed to catching arrowtooth flounder due to the
poor quality of their flesh. Upon landing, a proteolytic enzyme released from
a myxosporean parasite causes softening of the flesh that further limits their
marketability. Recently, several food grade additives have been successfully
used that inhibit enzymatic breakdown. These discoveries have recently enabled
a targeted fishery in the Kodiak Island area for marketable products including
surimi and frozen fillets.
During 2006, pollock made up 71.4% of the average groundfish catch off Alaska. The pollock catch for 2006 was 1.56 million metric tons (t), down approximately 0.4% from 2005.
The next major species, Pacific cod, accounted for 239,427 t or 10.9% of the total 2006 groundfish catch. The Pacific cod catch was down about 5.4% from a year earlier.
The 2006 catch of flatfish, which includes yellowfin sole, rock sole, and arrowtooth flounder was 231,343 t, up about 10.1% from 2005.
Other important species are sablefish (0.7%), rockfish (1.9%), and Atka mackerel (2.9%).
- STARK, J. W.
2008. Age- and length-at-maturity of female arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) in the Gulf of Alaska. Fish. Bull., U.S. 106:328-333.(.pdf, 306KB) Online.
- KNOTH, B. A., and R. J. FOY.
2008. Temporal variability in the food habits of arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) in the Western Gulf of Alaska. U. S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo., NMFS-AFSC-184, 30 p. (.pdf, 1 MB). Online.
- BLOOD, D. M., A. C. MATARESE, and M. S. BUSBY.
2007. Spawning, egg development, and early life history dynamics of arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) in the Gulf of Alaska. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Prof. Pap. NMFS 7, 28 p.
- GUNDERSON, D. R., M. ZIMMERMANN, D. G. NICHOL, and K. PEARSON.
2003. Indirect estimates of natural mortality rate for arrowtooth flounder (Atheresthes stomias) and blotched rockfish (Sebastes crameri). Fish. Bull., US. 101:175-182. (.pdf, 163kb) Online.
- Arrowtooth Flounder Atheresthes stomias Diet and Prey Consumption Near Kodiak Island, AK
By: BRIAN KNOTH
Conference: Alaska Marine Science Symposium, Anchorage, AK, Jan 2007
(2007 poster, .pdf, 562KB) Online.
- Winter Ichthyoplankton Survey and Arrowtooth Flounder Studies (FOCI, Jan-Mar 2003)
- Incubating
Fertilized Arrowtooth Flounder Eggs (Jan-Mar 2003)
- Additional publications, posters, and reports.
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(Sources:
Groundfish
of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area: Species Profiles 2001 and the
2005 North Pacific Groundfish Stock
Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Reports for 2006.)
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