The 10th International Symposium on Sturgeon (ISS10)

Fish are among the most diverse and numerous groups of vertebrates and have amazing reproductive strategies and processes to maintain their populations. The duration of sexual maturity varies among fish genera and species, and reaching the first fertilization takes from several months to several years depending on the genus and species. Among fish, the sturgeon family, unlike bony fish, reaches sexual maturity late, and it is impossible to determine their sex at an early age through morphometry.
Therefore, depending on the age of the sturgeon, using one of the methods such as surgery, laparoscopy, ultrasonography and souk to determine the gender of the sturgeon is necessary and mandatory. This prevents financial losses for the breeder due to the cost of raising male fish for several years due to the lack of gender determination. Although each of these methods is stressful for the fishes in turn, the results of the research showed that the Surgery is the most appropriate method for fishes that are in stage 1 to 2 of sexual maturation, Laparoscopy is the most appropriate and reliable method for fishes that are in stage 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 of sexual maturation, Ultrasonography is the most suitable method for fishes that are in stage 3 to 4 and 4 of sexual maturation and Souc or Trocar is the most suitable method for fishes that are in stage 4 of sexual maturity for the purpose of hormone therapy, are considered.

Sturgeon, Reliable method, stages of sex maturation