Plaice
European Plaice - Scientific name - Pleuronectes platessa
Conservation status
The European Plaice is on the Greenpeace Red List:
‘Many stocks of plaice are under high fishing pressure in European waters. Exceptions are the Irish Sea stock and Bay of Biscay stock which are not overfished. Plaice are caught using bottom trawling, often by a method called beam trawling. This technique catches high numbers of other unwanted bottom-dwelling sea creatures until 70% is unwanted and thrown back dying. Large, mature plaice is now very rare.’ (Greenpeace)
The MCS have mixed ratings with 2 areas of the North Sea rated as Best Choice. 6 areas in the English Channel and Irish Sea seen as areas that Need Improvement. 3 areas in the Celtic seas and 1 in the English Channel are Best to Avoid.
The IUCN assessed the European Plaice in 2022 and gave it a rating of Least Concern.
Overview
The European Plaice is a flat fish with dark green to dark brown skin on its dorsal side, with irregular orange spots. Their ventral side is white. They have a small head in relation to the rest of their body. They have the ability to change their colour a little to match their environment, though the orange spots always remain visible.
European plaice live for up to 20 years and are typically sized 50 to 70 cm.
They inhabit sandy and muddy bottoms of the European shelf, usually at depths between 10 and 200 metres. Adults live in deeper waters and younger fish in shallower waters such as estuaries.
They tend to burrow into the sediment and remain very still for long periods of time to hide from predators during the day.
They can be found in the Barents sea down to Spain and around Iceland and the Faroes.
Plaice is a popular fish in North German and Danish cuisine as well as in the UK.
Source
Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_plaice
Greenpeace - http://www.greenpeace-fishforlife.50webs.com/redlists.html
Marine Conservation Society - https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/ratings/wild-capture/109/