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Soles and other flat fishes are bottom feeding, carnivorous and asymmetrical with both eyes being present either on the right or left side. They are represented in Indian waters by a large numbers genera, Psettodes,Poecilopsetta Bothus, Pseudorhombus, Solea, Paraplagusia and Cynoglossus. Most of the flat fish species occur in small numbers in the miscellaneous catches all along the coast, except Cynoglosus semifaciatus, the Malabar sole, which supports an important fishery next to sardine, mackerel from Quilon in Kerala to Moolki in South kanara. The heaviest landings, however, are in the region between Edakad and Kadapuram on the Malabar coast C.semifaciatus is the only flat fish that occurs in large shoals. The best season for fishery immediately after the south west monsoon, September being always the month of peak commercial catches. This species has, however, been known to occur in shoals from August of one year to February of the following year. The soles are inexpensible fish, consumed by people of low income. Hence the market value of the soles to some extents depends on the availability of other fishes. C.semifasciatus grows to 10-12 cm.in the first year and 14-16 cm.in the second year. The commercial fishery is represented by 6-16 cm.size group. The fish does not usually occur in aggregations in the inshore fishing grounds after October, but large shoals occur at all depths in the inshore waters during September and October which form the chief commercial fishery season for this fish. During the monsoon months of June-August, the soles migrate to deeper waters and return to inshore areas immediately after the disappearance of monsoon conditions, coincident with rising salinity and commencement of bottom animal settlement. In October, they begin to migrate to deeper regions again for breeding and juvenile soles are recruited to the inshore fish stocks from December onwards. Spawning starts in October and continues till about the commencement of the South-West monsoon though with variable intensity at different periods of the long-drawn out spawning season. The large majority of individuals that contribute to the September-October fishery are only ‘one year’ old being the products of the previous October-May spawning. Individuals with two year old are very rare in the fishery. In the peak of the fishery 75-80% of the fish are fully mature potential spawners. The migration of soles from the offshore to inshore waters and vice-versa appears to be for the purpose of feeding and breeding respectively. Some of the important flat fishes in Indian waters are given below:
The sudden appearance of the soles in the surface and sub surface waters of the inshore region is phenomenal, when they are captured in large quantities in boat seines, cast nets and shore seines. The types of gear presently employed in the sole fishery are effective only when the fish are shoaling in the surface and subsurface waters but ineffective if they are at the bottom. |
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