Sustained, Natural Spawning of Southern Flounder Paralichthys lethostigma Under an Extended Photothermal Regime

Abstract Hormone‐induced spawning of southern flounder Paralichthys lethostigma has produced substantial numbers of viable eggs, but wide variations in fertilization and hatch rates have been reported. Recently, sustained natural spawning of southern flounder broodstock, without hormone induction, has been achieved in our laboratory. Adults (average weight = 1.12 kg; N= 25), including 6 captured as juveniles in 1993 and 19 captured as adults during September 1998, were stocked in two 4.8‐m3 controlled‐environment tanks in October 1998 and held under natural photothermal conditions until January 1999, when an artificial winter photo‐period of 10 L:14 D was initiated and then maintained through April 1999. Sex ratio was approximately 13 females:8 males:7 unknown. Natural spawning was observed in early December 1998 and increased in frequency to a peak in March 1999, before declining in late April. Water temperature ranged from 13.9 to 24.5 C during the spawning period. Natural spawnings over 142 d produced a total of 18.3 × 106 eggs, with a mean fertilization rate of 28.0% (range = 0–100%), yielding 4.94 × 106 fertilized eggs. The mean percentage of eggs that remained buoyant in full‐strength seawater (34 ppt) was 41.3% (0–98%), while hatching rate of buoyant eggs was 37.3% (0–99%) and survival of yolksac larvae to the first‐feeding stage was 30.2% (0–100%). Gonadal biopsies in late April identified six females from both tanks as probable spawners. A preliminary comparison suggests that natural spawning produced much larger numbers of viable eggs per female, with higher egg quality (i.e., fertilization and hatching success) than hormone‐induced spawning. In contrast to natural spawning, hormone‐induced strip‐spawning enabled timing of spawnings to be more precisely controlled. These results suggest that a combination of both natural and hormone‐induced spawning of photothermally conditioned fish will help produce the large numbers of eggs required to support commercial production.