1990-fp, 96-104 Him, J. Env. Zool. Vol. MATURITY AND SPAWNING IN A TELEOST FISH CHANDA RANGA (HAM. BUCH.) (Received December 26, 1989; Accepted August 25, 1990) P. V. Jabde P, G, Department of Zoology, M.S.G. Gollege, Malegaon—423 105(MS), India ‘The present paper deals with the study on the gonadal maturat- ion, sex-ratio, minimum size at maturity, spawsing sewsun aud spavning periodicity in a teleost fish, Chanda ranga, Tt spawns only once in a season but with a longer duration from June to October and attains maturity for the first time at 51-35 mm size group. Studies on the maturity and spawning, an important branch of fishery science, Is useful in several applied aspects of fishery including its management. Fishas'per- form var‘ous types of spawning tendencies which can be studied from the development of intia-ovarian eggs. Clark’, Hickling and_—-Kutenberg#, Jacob and Krishnamurthy * Palekar and Bal‘, Sivaprakasam §, Bhatnagar *, Thakre and Bapat’, Treasurer’, and Mason et. al.®, studied various types of spawning behaviours in different fishes. MATERIALS AND METHODS + 1547 female specimens of C. ranga were observed December 1983 from Godavari river near Nasik. The specimen to the laboratory in fres condition and their morphometrle. dat: ovaries were thon preserved in 4% from January 1983 to collected were brought a_were recorded. The formalin tor further study, Since the distributionJabde ory of ova ta ontertor, middie and posterior regions was__uniform, or uediameter measurements from only the middle region of each ovary ine taken. Ova diameters were measured by moans of an ocular micrometer (I omd 0020 mm). The maturity stages were determined after thorough study of intra- Gvarian eggs in several fishos. ‘The frequency ot spawning and spawning season wore studied by the tabulation of percentage occurrence of fish in various maturity ‘tages monthwise and sizewise and also by the ova diameter frequency polygons. Fish size at first maturity is calculated by plotting the % occurrence of mature fish with various size groups. RESULTS : The maturity stages for C, ranga were classified on the basis of microscopic exa- mination of gonads and are shown in the table— 1. Table 1— Classification of maturity stages of C. ranga Maturity stages ‘Ocular micrometer Peaks division (1 omd = 0.020 mm) ' Immature 5-8 omd 5 Maturing 5—£0 omd 5 I Mature 5—28 omd 3,24 1V— Spent Shortened and indefinite Development of ova to maturity : The ova-diameter frequency polygons presented in fig. 1, show size distribution of ova in the ovaries of different stages of maturity. The majority of ova in the ovaries of stage | fell in a cizo group of 5-6 omd (a). In stage II, the first hatch of ova separated from general egg stock with a mode ‘a’ at 13-14 omd and a minimum size of 19-20 omd. The growth was continued in the IlIrd stage also and the mode was observed at 26-26 omd,trl ‘spawning in Fish fen Maturity and SP: Minimum size at maturity in females + i J 109 mm in total length al of 1547 fomalo specimens ranging betwoon 90 an wore Resse to dotormina the maturity stages: The number ne Rat of fe. males in differont maturity stagos for each size group aro here a which fovonlad that the fomalos upto 45 mm In total length wore immatire NTN 8 most of tho spocimons in 46-50 mm size group wore recorded as maturing. ho mature females mado thelr first appearance in 51-53 mm size group (14.08%) an were found unt 401-105 mm sizo group indicating that the fish attained maturity for the first time in its life at 51-55 mm sizo group. It was further supported by the occurrence of spent fomales for the first time in tha samo size arouP. Spawning season 1 The data of female fich collected during differant months is presented in Table 3. The tabulated data showed that during the entire period of study, the spent females Wore very fow in catches. The mature female appeared for the first time in March witha gradual increase upto July followed by gradual decrease from August to November. From occurrence of the spent specimens from June onwards, it might be concluded that the fish were mature inthe April and May and undergo — spawning in duno. The occurrence of mature females over a petiod of nearly 7 months from April to Outuber, and thal of spent ones from dune to October lead to the conclusiun that C ranga had a single prolonged spawning season extending from June to October. Spawning Periodicity + Tho froquoncy distribution of ova diameter measurements from the ripe ovary (stage III) of C. ranga (fig. 1) showed that the grawth af ova is continuous with mode at 25-26 omd: The fish was rogularly spawning for few months (Single, Prolonged spawning periodicity). This observation was also confirmed by the study of percan= tage occurrence of fish in various maturity stages during different months (Table—3), which indicated that the spent fish were continuously observed from Juno—October, Sex—ratio ; The sex composition of C.ranga is shown in Table—4, which showed that the291 Jabdo (e6ejuedied ayeolpul sjey49eIq UJ SaunBy4) Goze'slser —Coscarvedezs — (e6e8"Sz)z68 (Cripe"1v}869 2st 1eyOL (eset (eerce)t (sess) a & SOI — 101 (eee (st'9#9 (Loe (694) L €1 O0l — 96 Coos (o0'0)9 (ooros)9 (00 s¢) 9 ot $6 — 16 Coons (igosist (prza)th (1°98) 81 6F 06 — 98 (ae) 81 (88 ch)¥9 GEea)or (cs'a) 86 IST $8 — 18 (sr'enes (er'sz):9 Gs'6z)¢9 (60°63) #9 0% 08 — 94 (er's)og (auza)os osrales (9s*ep) 211 id se- lk (serene (996Deb (os's1)8e 0°15) vat oes oL — 99 (ors)s1 (oz98)e9. 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Maturity and Spawning in Fish females were predominant over the males round the years The sex-ratio is foung to be 69.07% females : 30.93% males, The Chi-square test used in each case confirms whethor the obcorved ratio agrees to the expected 1: ratio between the two sexes. The x values. significant at 5% level are shown with one asterisk and those significant at both 5% and 1% levels are shown with two asterislse © DISCUSSION : The sex ratio in different months showed dominance of the temales over the males. The Chi-square tests proved that in nane of the cases, the sox ratio agreed to the expected Lil ratio. The minimum size of maturity was found to be between 51 and The spawning season extended from June to October, exhibi- ting a prolonged duration of spawning periodicity ina spawning season. Similar observations were also reported by Melita for G. guchua (Ham), by Somvanshl* for G, mullya and by Thakre and Bapat? for R, daniconius, The ovaries of G. ranga were classified into four maturity stages on tho bacie of ova—diamoter and dogree of yolk content in ova. In oVva-diameter distribution graph (Aig. 1) showed two distinct groups represented by mode ‘a’ & ‘b’ lured and mature stocks respectively. Walford ® observed Of Sphyreons argentea, which has a single spawning period, ova. the immature and mature. which have undegone half the matu representing Imma in the mature ovary contains only two types of Rangarajan * reported that the absence of ov ration process (maturing ova) In stage Ill (Mature)vabde 103] ovary Suggests that there may not be a second spawning in the same year. The total range of distribution of the intra-ovarian eggs in C. ranga ranges between 3 md. and 30 m.d. and It has been found that the mature ova ranging between 19 m.d, and 30 m.d. cover near about half of the range (fig.!) which again confirms the single and prolonged spawning season of the fish "8, Tho above observation also formed the basis to find out the prolonged spawning periodicity in the fish. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS : Author is thankful to Dr. P. G, Jadhay for his guidance and Dr. R. Nagbhusha- nam, Professor and Head, Dopartment of Zuulogy, Marathwada University, Aurangaba for his help and encouragement. REFERENCES ; 1, Clark, F. N. (1934). California ish Came, Jish, Bull, 42 2. Hickling C, F and Rutenberg, £.(1936), J. Ma, Bil, Ass. Usk, 212311 3. Jacob, P. K. and Krishnamurthy, (1948). J. Bombay Nat Hist, Soc., 47 : 663, 4. Plekar, V.C. and Bal, D.V. (1961). Proc, of Indian Acad. Sci, 54 (B) : 76, 5. Shivprakasam, T.E. (1965). J. Bombay, Nat, Hist, Soc. 62 6. Bhatnagar, G.K. (1972). J. Inland Jish Soc, India, 4 : 26, 7, Thakre, V.Y. and Bapat, 5.S. (1981) J. Bombay Nat, Hist, Soc. 78 : 58, 8. Treasurer, J.W. (1981). J. isk. Biol, 18: 729, 8 Mason, J.C., Beamish, A J. and Mefarlane, G.A. (1983). Canadian J. Jish and Aqua 40:12. 10. Snedecor, G.W, (1961). In : Statistical Methods Applied to Experiments in Agciculture and Bblogy. (Indian Edition). Allied Pacific Private Ltd., Bombay, India : pp. 534.104] Maturity and Spawning in Fish 41, Mehta, D.P. (1974). In : Study on the Biology of Ophiocephalus gachua (Flam, Buch.) Ph De Thesis, Marathwada University. Aurangabad (India). Acad., R 46: 105. 42, Somvanshi, V.S. (1980), Proc, Indian Natn, S 13+ Walford, L.A, (1982), Califernta Dive Fisk und Gume, fisk Bulls, 37 14, Rangarajan, K. (1971), Indian J. Jish., 1B : 114, 15. De Jong, J. K. (1939). Truebia. 17 : 307. 16. Prabhu, M.S, (1956) Judian J. fish 3 : 59,