Fish spawning season based on appearance of fish eggs in the southern sea of Korea

Abstract

Most marine teleost spawn massive eggs. Fish eggs as a direct evidence of spawning are useful to search spawning grounds and periods. However, it is difficult to study the spawning ecology using fish eggs based on morphological identification. We analyzed fish eggs using molecular marker. Fish eggs were collected from March 2013 to December 2015, every two weeks. Genomic DNA of fish eggs was extracted and its COI sequence was analyzed by Sanger and Next-generation sequencing. Fifty-nine species of fish eggs were identified, including Engraulis japonicus, Pagrus major, and Citharoides macrolepidotus. Fish eggs mainly appeared from April to October and were highly dense on summer. Depending on the appearance of fish eggs, we figured out the various fish species spawned largely in summer, near southern sea of Korea. Composition of mixed fish eggs analyzed by NGS should be useful to study the spawning ecology of diverse fish.on. We analyzed fish eggs using molecular marker. Fish eggs were collected from March 2013 to December 2015, every two weeks. Genomic DNA of fish eggs was extracted and its COI sequence was analyzed by Sanger and Next-generation sequencing. Fifty-nine species of fish eggs were identified, including Engraulis japonicus, Pagrus major, and Citharoides macrolepidotus. Fish eggs mainly appeared from April to October and were highly dense on summer. Depending on the appearance of fish eggs, we figured out the various fish species spawned largely in summer, near southern sea of Korea. Composition of mixed fish eggs analyzed by NGS should be useful to study the spawning ecology of diverse fish.