On the 1st of April 2005 we accompanied a professional fisherman fishing in Belgian coastal waters. A remarkable observation was that a high percentage (at least 1%) of Dover Sole Solea solea in the catch (which could not be systematically investigated) was virtually albino. Only around the head of the dorsal (or right) side a small patch of normally pigmented skin was present. These animals were adults, and seemed healthy. It is possible that these conspicuous Dover soles, with the current low stock of cod (a predator of amongst other young flatfish) in the southern North Sea, can survive up to maturity in larger numbers these days. It is also possible that higher rates of malpigmentation are the result of climate change induced shifts in zooplankton composition. Malpigmentation can be induced during the larval stage when Dover sole feed on zooplankton. At the Sea Fisheries Department (Ostend) this phenomenon was observed in a high percentage of bred Dover sole. It was induced by a shortage in an essential feeding element in the larval stage, although a genetic factor could not be ruled out.
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