Control of gonad growth, maturation and spawning in teleost fish: A review

Abstract

Despite their great variety of reproductive strategies, a general characteristic of most teleosts is that (where known) natural reproduction shows a long-term periodicity, even in tropical habitats (e.g. see contributions in Munro et al. 1990a). Typically, gonad development from puberty leads to fully-grown gonads by the advent of the spawning season; if conditions are appropriate, then final gonad maturation leads to the production of viable gametes during one or more breeding bouts. Subsequently, in those larger species which spawn over more than one season, the gonads regress and the individual returns to a phase where any growth is somatic. However, there is wide interspecific variability in the pattern of gonad development (Wallace and Selman 1981, de Vlaming 1983, Billard 1986, Selman and Wallace 1989).