Spawning season, spawning grounds, and egg production of red sea bream in Hiuchi-nada, Seto Inland Sea

The spawning season and grounds of red sea bream in Hiuchi-nada, the central part of the Seto Inland Sea, were described using a new method based on monoclonal antibodies for identifying Pagrus major eggs, and the daily egg production (standardized by the incubation time and survival rate) was estimated. At the peak of spawning (May), the ranges of sea temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll a where red sea bream eggs occurred were 14.8–17.4°C, 32.0–33.0, 0.5–4.4 μg/L, respectively. The main spawning grounds of the red sea bream were confirmed as being the areas near the Geiyo Islands, Misaki Peninsula, Saijyo, Niihama. The spatial spread of red sea bream eggs increased with the egg developmental stage. The ranges of daily egg production in 2005 and 2006 were 0.3–19.3 and 0.2–6.7 × 109 eggs/day, respectively. In Hiuchi-nada, aquaculture farms are located close to the spawning grounds, and the potential spawning population from the aquaculture farms equaled or exceeded that of the estimated spawning population obtained by the egg production method. Red sea bream eggs in Hiuchi-nada might be produced by both wild and aquaculture-based spawning populations.