Plaice is a common name for a group of

flatfish A flatfish is a member of the Ray-finned fish, ray-finned demersal fish Order (biology), suborder Pleuronectoidei, also called the Heterosomata. In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the head, one or the other migrating through or around ...

that comprises four species: the European, American, Alaskan and scale-eye plaice. Commercially, the most important plaice is the European. The principal commercial flatfish in Europe, it is also widely fished recreationally, has potential as an aquaculture species, and is kept as an aquarium fish. The American plaice is also commercially important. The term ''plaice'' (plural ''plaice'') comes from the 14th-century Anglo-French ''plais''. This in turn comes from the late

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''platessa'', meaning flatfish, which originated from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''platys'', meaning broad.

Plaice species

European plaice

The European plaice (''Pleuronectes platessa'') is a right-eyed

flounder Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuary, estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related speci ...

belonging to the family Pleuronectidae. It is a commercially important flatfish that lives on the sandy bottoms of the European shelf. It ranges geographically from the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. European plaice are characterised by their smooth brown skin, with distinctive red spots and a bony ridge behind the eyes. They feed on

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s and

bivalves Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed by a calcified exoskeleton consis ...

and can be found at depths of up to 200 metres. At night they move into shallow waters to feed and during the day they bury themselves in the sand. Their maximum recorded length is and maximum reported age 50 years. Together with sole, European plaice form a group of

that are the most important flatfish in Europe.European plaice and sole

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

. Retrieved 22 November 2009. European plaice have been fished from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

for hundreds of years. They are usually fished from beam trawlers, otter trawlers or seiners. In the

Celtic Sea The Celtic Sea is the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Ireland bounded to the north by St George's Channel, Saint George's Channel; other limits include the Bristol Channel, the English Channel, and the Bay of Biscay, as wel ...

the plaice species is considered overfished. Catch comparison European plaice 2007

American plaice

Like the European plaice, the American plaice is a right eyed flatfish belonging to the family Pleuronectidae. American plaice are an Atlantic species, which range from southern

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. They are also found in Europe, where they are called rough dab or long rough dab. They spawn in the

Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northea ...

, with peak activity in April and May. They are brown or reddish, and are generally smaller than European plaice, with a rougher skin and larger scales. Their maximum recorded length is , and maximum reported age 30 years. They are usually found between depths of on sandy bottoms with temperatures between . They feed on small fishes and invertebrates. The species is considered by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization to be overfished, with no signs of recovery. Though they are also currently endangered in Canada due to

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing Fish stocks, fish stock), resu ...

,Bergeron, et al. 1997. ''Canadian Journal of Zoology'' 75: 1364–1371. the Canadian government believes the species is abundant. Flatfish, as a group, are second-most caught (by weight) only to cod in Canada, with American plaice accounting for 50 percent of all flatfish caught. American plaice may be an intermediate host for the nematode parasite ''Otostrongylus circumlitis'', which is a lungworm of seals, primarily affecting animals less than 1 year of age. Catch comparison American plaice 2007

Alaska plaice

Alaska plaice can live for up to 30 years and grow to long, but most that are caught are only seven or eight years old and about . Most commercial

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

do not target Alaska plaice, but many are caught as

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

by commercial trawlers trying to catch other bottom fish. Thus, many Alaska plaice get caught anyway — so much so that, for example, the 2005 total allowable catch in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...

and

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

management area (BSAI) was reached before the end of May of that year.

Scale-eye plaice

The scale-eye plaice is a

of the family Pleuronectidae. It is a

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer o ...

fish that lives at depths of . It can reach in length and can weigh up to . Its native habitat is the

northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference, an NCAA Division I conference * Northern Pacific Hockey League, an American Tier III junior ice hockey league * Northern Paci ...

, primarily from the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, though it is also found in the

Current conservation and management status

Plaice, along with the other major demersal fish in the

such as

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

, monkfish and sole, is listed by the ICES as "outside safe biological limits." Moreover, they are growing less quickly now and are rarely older than six years, whereas they can reach forty. The

says that in 2006 "of the eight plaice stocks recognised by ICES, only one is considered to be harvested sustainably while three are overexploited. Data is insufficient to assess the remaining stocks; however, landings for all stocks are at or near historical lows."

In cuisine and culture

In North German and

Danish cuisine Danish cuisine originated from the peasant population's own local produce and was enhanced by cooking techniques developed in the late 19th century and the wider availability of goods during and after the Second Industrial Revolution, Industrial ...

, plaice is one of the most commonly eaten fish. Filleted, battered, and pan-fried plaice is popular hot or cold as an

open sandwich An open sandwich, also known as an open-face/open-faced sandwich, bread baser, bread platter or tartine, consists of a single slice of bread or toast with one or more food items on top. It has half the number of slices of bread compared to a ty ...

topping together with

remoulade Rémoulade (; ) is a cold sauce. Although similar to tartar sauce, it is often more yellowish, sometimes flavored with curry, and often contains chopped Pickled cucumber, pickles or piccalilli. It can also contain horseradish, paprika, Anchovies ...

sauce and lemon slices. Battered plaice is often served hot with

french fries French fries, or simply fries, also known as chips, and finger chips (Indian English), are '' batonnet'' or '' julienne''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and f ...

and remoulade sauce as a main dish; this

fish and chips Fish and chips is a hot dish consisting of batter (cooking), battered and fried fish, served with French fries, chips. Often considered the national dish of the United Kingdom, fish and chips originated in England in the 19th century. Today, ...

variant is popular and is commonly available on children's menus in Danish restaurants. Breaded frozen plaice, ready to be baked or fried at home, are readily available in supermarkets. Fresh plaice is also oven-baked. "The flesh of plaice is white, tender and subtle-flavoured." Smoked plaice is one of the traditional summer time delicacies of Hiiumaa island.

Notes

References

* (1991) Changes in fecundity of female North Sea plaice (''Pleuronectes platessa'') between three periods since 1900. ICES Journal of Marine Science; 48: 253–280 * (1953) ''The plaice'' being the buckland lectures. Publisher Edward Arnold * (2004) ''Flatfishes: Biology and Exploitation''. Blackwell Publishing *Clover, Charles. 2004. ''The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat''. Ebury Press, London.
1998 Marine Fisheries Review articleBulletin announcing reaching the total allowable catch of Alaska plaice for 2005
( National Marine Fisheries Service)

External links

* Guide to Responsible Sourcing of Plaice - produced by Seafish https://web.archive.org/web/20071008001434/http://www.seafish.org/upload/file/fisheries_management/Plaice%20Factsheet2%20%20final.pdf *
Meet the Ekofish otter trawl plaice fishers

Marine Stewardship Council The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a non-profit organisation which aims to set standards for sustainable fishing. Fisheries that wish to demonstrate they are well-managed and sustainable compared to the MSC's standards are assessed by a tea ...

. {{commercial fish topics, state=expanded Pleuronectes Commercial fish Fish common names