RV Platessa the central basin. The RV "Platessa" (LT205) was in service with Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom) from April 1946 until June 1967, during which time she participated in more than 473 separate research campaigns. She was primarily confined to the southern North Sea, but with occasional forays into the Irish Sea and English Channel, especially in the 1960s. The RV "Platessa" (LT205) was overwhelmingly dedicated to research on North Sea herring and North Sea Plaice. This work included the tagging of more than 12,000 plaice during the 1950s, 7000 during the 1960s. In addition, large numbers of
Common sole Common sole The common sole, Dover sole, or black sole ("Solea solea") is a species of flatfish in the family Soleidae. It lives on the sandy or muddy seabed of the northern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea where it often semi-immerses itself in the substrate. The upper side is greyish-brown while the underside is white. It grows to a maximum length of about . The species is prized as a food fish, being caught mostly by trawling on the seabed. The small eyes are close to each other on the right side of the body. This gives the fish the