Abdomen of a fish reveals the future of the stock
Friday, September 2, 2011 - 08:30
in Biology & Nature
A glance at the sex organs in the body cavity of a fish reveals both its sex and maturity. Maturity staging is used to estimate the size of the spawning fraction of a fish stock and advice on fishing quotas. In order to standardize guidelines for maturity determination among countries, and thus increase the accuracy of fish stock assessments, researchers in Denmark gathered biologists from 15 different countries with the aim to make common guidelines for maturity staging of sprat and herring.