Yvan Lambert and Anders Thorsen

Ministère des Pêches et des Oceans, Institut Maurice-Lamontagne
C. P. 1000, Mont-Joli, Québec G5H 3Z4, Canada

Source - Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science, Volume 33: 71-79
ISSN-0250-6408

Abstract

Experimental work on the reproduction of captive marine fish species provides the opportunity to improve our knowledge of the factors and mechanisms regulating reproduction of fish populations in natural environments. The integration of captive and wild studies can potentially be used to predict changes in the reproductive characteristics of fish populations in response to variations in specific environmental conditions in the wild. This dual approach can also be used to develop predictive models incorporating biological and environmental factors. However, differences in the acclimation to captivity, reproductive strategy, reproductive behaviour and susceptibility to stress may limit the extrapolation of laboratory work on different captive fish species to situations in the wild. For each species, some form of validation will be necessary to determine which of the different reproductive characteristics determined experimentally can be applied to wild fish. Wild fish should preferably be kept in captivity for limited periods of time prior to laboratory experiments and holding conditions should mimic environmental conditions as closely as possible. Natural food should be preferred to formulated feeds and the quantity of food should be adjusted to obtain growth, maturation and reproductive effort in the range observed for wild fish. Repeatability of experimental results should be evaluated by comparing the results of more than one experiment with the same experimental protocol and/or by using the same protocol in different laboratories.

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