Maturity and fecundity of golden grey mullet (Liza aurata Risso, 1810) in Iranian waters of the Caspian Sea

The objective of the study was to determine some reproductive parameters in the golden grey mullet (Liza aurata Risso, 1810) during two periods half a decade apart while also trying from limited data to identify changes in fecundity over the past half century. Maturity and fecundity of golden grey mullet caught in Iranian waters of the Caspian Sea is not well documented and were thus studied during several seasonal cycles during 2002-2004 to establish basic data on reproduction in the area. The fork length (FL) of 462 sampled fish was between 22.1 and 51.9 cm. The fork length-weight relationship derived from all fish was W = 0.0118FL(2.964). Overall male to female ratio was 1 : 1.42. The reproductive season extended from October to December. Fifty percent of sexual maturity was at FL 26.0 cm. Mature gonads were present in 20% of fish at age 3, 63% at age 4, 88% at age 5, and 97% at age 6. Individual absolute fecundity of the golden grey mullet ranged from 113 386 to 1.47 million eggs, with a mean (+/- SD) of 451 963 (+/- 274,114.2). An overlap exists between the spawning and fishing seasons. Therefore, the start of the fishing season should be delayed for 1 month in order for stocks to complete their spawning.