Efficacy of a novel reproductive tag to index spawn timing

Abstract

Insight into fish annual reproductive dynamics (including spawn timing) can elucidate key determinants of recruitment. However, few methods, if any, are available to directly index individual spawn timing, hindering study of such processes. To this end, we developed two reproductive tags (RTs; internal and external) and evaluated their performance assessing spawn timing of female yellow perch ( Perca flavescens). Internal RTs performed well, especially in comparison to external RTs, displaying consistent long-term tag retention and clear tag release synchronized with egg mass release during spawning. These results demonstrate the utility of internal RTs to investigate previously unexplored mechanisms of reproductive timing.