Sexual maturity, spawning and fecundity of king weakfish Macrodon ancylodon, caught off Rio Grande do Sul State (southern coast of Brazil)

• Main Authors: Anastácio Afonso Juras, Noriyoshi Yamaguti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 1989-01-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Oceanography
• Subjects: Proporção do sexo; Maturação sexual; Época de desova; Fecundidade; Macrodon ancylodon; Rio Grande do Sul; Sex ratio; Sexual maturity; Spawning seasons; Fecundity; Brazil: Rio Grande do Sul
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1679-87591989000100005
• ISSN: 1679-8759; 1982-436X

Investigations on the sexual maturity, spawning and fecundity of king weakfish, Macrodon ancylodon, off the southern coast of Brazil (lat. 29º to 32ºS) were carried out from September, 1976, to August, 1977. The sex ratio varied monthly, with slight predominance of males (51.14%) over females (48.86%). The mean size at first maturity was estimated as 27.4 cm TL for females and 21.5 cm TL for males. The macroscopic examination of gonads and analysis of the gonadal index indicated that December and February were the most intensive spawning months. Fish weight proved to be the best predictor data of fecundity: F = 17056.2500 + 425.3712 Wt (r² = 0.6434) , were F is the total number of eggs in both ovaries. The number of eggs of 199 females varied from 59,850 for 33.4 cm TL fish to over 358,450 for 37.2 cm TL; the mean fecundity verified was 165,273 eggs per female. Frequency distributions of egg diameter in the ovaries were polymodal, suggesting fractional spawning during the reproduction season.