Finfish Breeding and Hatchery Management (2+1)

Unit 12 - Breeding of milkfish

12.2. Brood-stock development

• Milk fish is heterosexual (no incidence of hermaphroditism).
• Both wild and captive broodfish respond to hormone injection.
• Captive broodstock is managed in brackish-water earthen ponds/cement ponds/cages.
• Fed with supplementary diet.
• Gonadal development is synchronous and six stages gonadal maturity are found.
• Males mature at 4+ years, while females take 5+ years to mature.
• Does not spawn naturally in captivity.
  
• Spawns naturally in open sea during May-August.
• Difficult to identify ripe brooders based on morphological characters.
• Ova-diameter (0.70 - 0.89 mm) indicates ripe ova.
• Fecundity – 2-8 million/kg b.w.