Abstract
Pomadasys stridens (Forsskal, 1775) is excellent food fish and widely distributed in the Indo- pacific region. It inhabits higher part of rocky tide pools, and shallow waters. The fecundity and sex ratio of Pomadasys stridens (Forsskal, 1775) has been described. The occurrence of mature specimen of Pomadasys stridens (Forsskal, 1775) was found in different size groups. The minimum size of maturity was found in 136 mm and the maximum size of maturity was 210 mm of total length, which is supported by the results obtained from the studies of mature ovaries. Fecundity determined that the relationship between the size of fish, weight and length were directly related to the size of ovary. The frequency distribution of ova suggests that the spawning periods are twice in a year i.e. August to October and January to March in a year. The sex ratio has been obtained during the period of January 2001 to April 2002. The numbers of male and female were calculated. The overall male- female ratios were found to be 1: 1.5. Log-log relationship between fecundity and total length, body weight and ovary weight was reported. It is observed that the right is slightly larger than the left. The number of ova depends on the difference in size of the ovary. Therefore it may be mentioned that the fecundity is generally proportional to the size of the ovary, which in turn is related to the size of the fish. The mean fecundity calculated was 17810.22. The minimum and maximum being 8114.4 and 38494.75 respectively. The mean number of ova/g body weight and mean number of ova/g ovary weight were found to be 231.63 and 4170.57 respectively. The gonads are two lobed; the right lobe is more fecund than the left one.
