Winter Flounder

Winter Flounder Yolk-Utilization Project

Joe Pereira of NOAA/NMFS Milford Laboratory in Connecticut shows Ruth Hartling of UMass Amherst the finer points of flounder rearing. The NOAA facility maintains tanks circulated with fresh sea water that allow them to catch and keep female flounders in healthy condition while their ovaries mature . . .

	In January or February a female winter flounder, three days from spawning, seems similar to any other flat fish until . . .
	. . . turned on its side the gravid female shows off its 'football' shaped profile. She is chock full of eggs that have recently hydrated creating her inflated state.

Here, Jim Hughes of NOAA/NMFS Milford strips the eggs of this gravid female, providing us with the raw material to begin our study of egg yolk storage-proteins.

NOAA vessels are being used to collect winter flounder in the Long Island Sound.

Joe Pereira and the vessels skipper, Captain Bob Alix, prepare to go on a collecting trip.

Why are these resources and scientists being devoted to the winter flounder?

Stay tuned to this website as we develop our answer for you!

Chapter I.

Developing an assay for winter flounder vitellogenin:

Hartling, R. C., J. J. Pereira and J. G. Kunkel. (1997). Characterization of a heat-stable fraction of lipovitellin and development of an immunoassay for vitellogenin and yolk protein in the winter flounder (Pleuronectes americanus). J Exp Zool 278: 156-166.

Entrez abstract

Hartling R.C. and J.G. Kunkel. (1999). Developmental fate of the yolk protein lipovitellin in embryos and larvae of winter flounder, Pleuronectes americanus. J Exp Zool 284:686-95

Entrez abstract

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