IFR Journal Vil.IV No.Z.

lg98

GONAD MATURITY STAGES OF ANCHOVIES

lin a hetero lob usl FROM BACAN ISLAND
(En c r asic ho
lletno Andermari-', Margaret Farmer'-', Umi Khodriyah'.') and
Anclriko N. Susanto.)

ABSTRAC'I'
'I'he gorratl tnat.ttrit.y stages of anr:hovies (Ent'rasirholin.a hetentlobus) used as tuna baitfish
were exatninetl in the waters of Bacan Island. The slrecies is a rnultiple spawner with asynchro-
frous oo(:.yte tlevelopment.. From l 165 fenrale E. hetenilob u,s gonads exarnined histologicall.y. an
irverflge of 40",1' were spent (post-vitellogenic follicles present) at any one ti1re.

KEYWORDS: anchovies. Encrasicholina, gonad matur.ity.

INTRODUCTION Laboratory Study

One of the inrportant fisheries in Maluku is
the pole-and-line fishery for skipjack tuna. This
fishery depends on a consistent supply of ancho.
vic's that are used as live bait. The variability in
the supplv of anchovies to tht-. fishery has led to
calls for accurate assessment, of the stocks of these
fish in the baitgrounds. One of the objectives of
the collaborative baitlish research project between
CSIRO and RIMF was to evaluate the Dailv Egg
Production Method (DEPM) for estimating an-
chovy biomass. One ol'the parameters needed for
this estimation nrethocl was the spawning I're-
(luen(:y und gonad maturity o{' anchovies at the
strrne tinre that the plankton wns sampled for their
cggs. The objective ofthe part ofthe study reported
in this paper was to describe the gonad matura-
tion and spawning frequencv (using the presence
o{' post-vitellogenic follicles) of the anchovy
l)ncrasicholin,ct h.clcr<tlolrlrs in the Bacag area of
Mnluku.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Sampling
Fish were collected from,"bagans" at Bacan Is-
land in September und November 1gg6, and April
and.lulv 1997. All fish were preserved in 10% fbr-
rnalin and taken to tlre laboratory of the Ambon
Assessment Institutc of' AgriculturaI .Iechnologv.
n) Artrbon Assessment lnsl.itut.e of Agricultur.nl'lirchnolog.y..Il. Chr. Soplnnit. Runrah Tisr,,
9723:1. lndonesia
*") csIRO Mari'e Research, PO Box 120. clevera'rl 416:t eld.. Australia
***) Reseurch Institute frrr. Mtu.ine
Fisheries
All fish from the samples were measured (stan-
rlard length in mm) and weighed (i0.001 S). Go-
nads were removed from female {ish and preserved
in 7O/u alcohol for subsequent histological prepa.
ration. For histological processing half of each
ovary was dehydrated in a graded series of
alcohols, cleared in xylene, impregnated with and
embedded in para{fin wax. Six-micrometer serial
sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin
(Luna, 1968). then mounted and examined.
Gonad maturity was defined following the
stages ofHunter & Goldberg (1980) and Cyrus and
Rlaber (1984). These criteria are shown in Table l
The gonads were scored according to the relative
number of cells of each developmental stage, and
the presence of post-ovulatory follicles was noted.
'lhe percentage of each histological section that
corresponded to each developmental stage was
subjectively estima ted.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The gonads of 1165 female Encrasieholina
Iteterolobus were examined histologically and all
contained oocytes in each of the various stages of
development. This indicates that this baitfish has
asynchronous oocyte development and multiple
spawning, supporting previous research. Suma_
dhiharga (1995) found that the three species of
Encrasicholina (Stolephorus) in Ambon Bav had
Arrrbun

47
Il. ,lrrr!rttnurr, Ill. Rrrrttt't . I!. Iilttxlri.t'trh, trtrtl A.N-
'l'rrblt' l. ('riteria use(l f()r sttrging
Stage Rernarks
I lt.nnrature
2 Dervekrping/resting
:l Maturing
t ltipe
ir lttrnrrirrg rilrer
(i Sport
ovaries containing developing oor:ytes tlt eaoh
stage and Wright ( 1992) that several oocvte groups
in cliflcrent stages of nraturat,ion oillt be rer:ognised
in the nrature ovar\r of' F). heterol<tbus. Wright
( 1992) statetl that this anchovv is a seritrl sptlwner
(ranging from 2 to 14 tlavs). Act:ording to Tiews cl
o/. (1970) E. hL'terolob tts in the Philippines prob-
ablv spawns at least twit:e clr-rring its life
In this stutlv we f'ottucl ovaries with
vitellogenic fbllicles in 1ll'11, of fish in Septernber
1996 (out ol'l)4 samltles trollectetl front threro oct:a-
sions). i)"1, ol'fish in November 1996 (out of 148
samples <:clllet:tecl lronr trvo txrcasions), 68'2, ol'fish
in April 1997 (out of 4,18 sarnples collected from 4
occasions). 67')i' of'f ish in .lune (n=54 tr<lm l <lcca-
sicrn). and 45'1tr, ol'fish in Julv 1997 (out of 4tt1
santples r;olletrted <ln 4 or:<;itsions). The six grlnad
rnaluritv stages arc shttwtt in Figure l.
Ilach fish one stage is always more dominant
than any other at a particular time. depending rln
when it last slrawnecl and when it will next spawn.
The sequencer is shown lirr each dav ol'sampling
lbr each sampling trip in ['igure 2. and also for all
samplcs <:ombitrecl firr cach trip in Figure j]. These
I'igures graphicallv demotrstrate the variabilit'v
between sampling periocls antl the dav to day
variation in the contributions of populatiotls of
I'emale E. hetcrol.o[ttts to overitll egg product,ion. It.
f'rrrt,her emphasises the irnportant:e to bhe I)ailv
I.)gg Proclur:titln N{ert.hod of'sampling the an<:hovv
population firr f'emale syrawning inlirrmation at the
sarne t.ime as the planl<trtn is sampletl firr eggs.
Acknowledgtnetrts
We thank Ms.'l'ouva Van der Velcle o{'OSIIiO
Marine llesear<'h firr assistance with histology and
48
Stl.sanltt
f'emaler gonilds of'Lhu'rosiclrclinospp.
Histology
Oogonin present
Pre-vibellogenic oocytes
Yolk llrecursor stage; some non-staining volk
Non-sttritring volk; developed chorion
Hornogeneous red-staining volk; oocytes hydrated;
developrnent completer
Atresion of ripe oocyLes lllus pre-vitellogenic
oo(:ytes; presence of post-vitellogenic follicles
Ms. l'rarlirrn Ilat,ta of the Indonesian National
Scienr:t' Irrstitutt, lirr photography. This work
lornrcd purl oI tht, bartfish research projectfunded
bv Aust.ralian (lentre for International Agricul-
tural llcserarch.
REFERENCES
post,-
Cyrus. D.P. ancl Blaber, S.J.M. 1984. The reproductive
biolog.v of Garres (Teleostei) Bleeker 1859, in Natal
estuaries. J. Fish. Biol. 24:491-504.
Hunter..J.R. and Goldberg. S.R. 1980. Spawning inci'
dence atrcl batch fecundity in nolthern anchovy
Engxtulis ntrtrdax. Fish. Bull. U.S. 77 : 641'652.
Ltrna, L.(i. 1968. Manual of Histoktgical Staining Meth'
ods ol thc Arnrcd Forces. Institute of Pathology. 3rd
ed. Mc(]raw-Hill, N.Y.
Milton. D.A. and Blaber, S.J.M. 1991. Maturation,
spawning seasonality, and proximate spawning
stirntrli of six species of tuna baitfish in the Solomon
Islands. lish. Ilull. U.S. 89: 221, - 2:ti.
I\{ilton. l).A. Blaber', S.J.M and Rawlinson. N.J.F. 1994.
Iil'prorlut'tive biology and egg production o[ three
specics of Clupeidae from Kiribati, tlopical ceutral
Prrcilic F'ish. Bull. U.S. 92: LOz - l2l .
Strrnaclhiharea, O.K. 1995. Anchouy Fisheries and Ecol'
ttgy u:ith Strtcrial Reference to the Reproductiue Biol'
ottl of Stolephoru.s spp. in Antbon Bay, Indonesia.
PhD Thesis. Universitv ofTokyo, Japan. 143 pp
Tiews. K., Ronquillo, L.A.and Santos, L.M. 1970. On
the biology of anchovies (Sktlephorus, Lac6pdtle) in
Philippine waters. Pr<tceedings of the Inch-Pat'ific
Fishrries Cottncil 13(Il): 20-48.
Wright. P.J. 1992. Ovarian development, spawning fre-
quency and batch fecundity in Encrasicholina
hetentktbo (Riippell, lfl58). J. Fish. Biol.40: 833-
8'1.1.
 IFR Journal Vol,IV No.2, 1998

Figure 1. Histological sections of the gonads of Encrasicholina heterolobus showing

the six stages of maturity.

49
R. And.antari M. Farmer, U. Kfutdriyah, and A.N' Sttsanto

F
B50
g

**#'"^#$o*
N=9 [rl=1 1 N=14

?
tsso
&

7wuo.g>

"'o^l|"^ ll'o^ !!'n^ n,

N=120 N=98 N=96 N=134 N=54

I Spent
m-|Tn Running ripe
t
g50 NN
Ripe
Maturing
I ffi Developing

72, 7J., 7q-, /c,

%t g> %Lg> "a/-g> wLg>
N=120 N=67 N=176 N=118

Figure 2. Proportions of each maturity stage in the gonads of Encrasicholina heterolobtt's ftom
each day's sample from five sampling trips'

50
 IFR Journal Vol.IV No.2. 1998

c
o
g
r[Trm Spent

Running Ripe
o
& Ripe

NN Maturing

W Devetoping

$r* uohe6 S^n, Qo.n, uuro,

N=134 N=l4g N=449 N=54 N=4gl
Figure 3. Proportion of each maturity stage in the gonad of Encrasicholina
heterolobus for all samples combined for each of the five sampling
trips.

51