Gonad recrudescence and annual sex steroid patterns in female goldspot mullet, Liza parsia reared in brackishwater pond

Goldspot mullet, Liza parsia is a commercially important fish of South East Asia, where its farming depends on wild seed resources due to unavailability of hatchery technology. It, therefore, is important to understand the annual reproductive cycle of female L. parsia in captivity. In this study, adult male and female L. parsia (body weight ranges: 45–90 g; total length ranges: 100–125 mm, age >1 year) were collected from the wild and reared in a brackishwater pond. Thereafter, fish were randomly sampled at monthly intervals to measure the hepatosomatic index (HSI), gonadosomatic index (GSI), levels of serum steroids (testosterone, T; 17β-estradiol, E2 and 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, 17-OHP), and oocyte growth. Results exhibited that female L. parsia undergoes six different maturation stages, namely I (oocyte diameter, OD: