Premium
Management Briefs: Use of Ultrasonic Images for Rapid Nonlethal Determination of Sex and Maturity of Pacific Herring
Author(s) -
Bonar Scott A.,
Thomas G. L.,
Pauley Gilbert B.,
Martin Roy W.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(1989)009<0364:mbuoui>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - pacific herring , gonadosomatic index , gonad , fish <actinopterygii> , herring , fishery , biology , ultrasound , clupea , zoology , anatomy , demography , medicine , population , radiology , fecundity , sociology
We investigated the feasibility of using ultrasonic images to rapidly sort Pacific herring Clupea harengus pallasi by sex and state of maturity and found that this could be done with a high degree of accuracy. We first compared low‐resolution ultrasound images of 64 Pacific herring to dissections to learn how to interpret the images. We then examined 112 other fish to evaluate the accuracy of the technique. All of 21 males with gonads weighing more than 2.9 g (ratio of gonad weight to body weight, or gonadosomatic index, 4.5) and 22 females with gonads weighing more than 8.5 g (gonadosomatic index, 12.0) were correctly sorted to sex with the ultrasound scanner. In 69 other fish, gonads weighed less than 2.9 g, and sex was indistinguishable.