Abstract
Because the meagre ( Argyrosomus regius ) is not currently found around the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean), the Balearic government is carrying out a restocking programme to recover its population. The success of this programme is critically dependent on improved knowledge of the meagre’s life cycle, and particularly its reproductive biology. Data on key reproductive parameters based on both reared and wild specimens are reported here. Histological examinations and gonadosomatic indices from 342 reared specimens demonstrated that 1) the potential reproductive season ranged from April to June and peaked in May, and 2) length at maturity (L 50 ) was 49.3 cm for males and 57.2 cm for females, age at maturity (A 50 ) was 2.7 years for males and 3.5 years for females, and weight at maturity (W 50 ) was 1396 g for males and 1892 g for females. Histological examinations of 37 wild fish from Cadiz (SW Spain) demonstrated that the meagre has determinate fecundity. The annual potential fecundity of reared females ranged from 0.9 to 4.2 million oocytes, which is exponentially dependent upon female size.
Highlights
The meagre (Argyrosomus regius (Asso, 1801)) is distributed along the Atlantic coast, including the entire Mediterranean Sea (Chao 1986)
The gonads of the meagre were longitudinal, paired and fused at their last caudal portions and the short oviducts leading into the urogenital pore, which were posterior and clearly differentiated from the anus
The gonads, which were similar in length, were attached to the ventral walls of the gas bladders and suspended by mesenteries to the dorsal walls of the body cavities
Summary
The meagre (Argyrosomus regius (Asso, 1801)) is distributed along the Atlantic coast (northward to southern Norway and southward to the Congo), including the entire Mediterranean Sea (Chao 1986). Juveniles (year-round) and adults (during the spawning season) are common in estuarine and shallow coastal areas (Chao 1986, Quéro and Vayne 1987, Quéro 1989), while adults move offshore during the non-reproductive season (Morales-Nin et al 2012). This sciaenid is a highly prized species that is targeted by recreational and commercial fleets (Morales-Nin et al 2010). Average world catches of meagre were 4408 t year–1 from 2005 to 2007 (FAO, 2007), but the real volume of landings is most likely greater because the FAO data for some countries are likely to be underestimated (González-Quirós et al 2011). Overfishing is likely to occur there (González-Quirós et al 2011)
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