Journal of Crop Production and Processing

  Great sturgeon is one of the most economically important species. However, in recent years overfishing, illegal fishing, etc., have resulted in severe declines in the stocks of this species. For conservation, stock of this species, determination of gonadal situation and its gonadal growth exchanges is very important. This paper is a histological approach to gonadal staging in 74 Huso huso in the 4 – and - 5 - year old classes. The fishes were reared in brackish water concert tanks under controlled conditions. A small section of the gonads of each fish was removed by biopsy. The gonadal tissue was fixed in buoin solution. They were dehydrated in different diluted solutions of alcohol and chloroform until they were clear. Then they were embedded in paraffin and sectioned at 7 µm and stained by hematoxylin and eosin method. Of the four-year old fish, %56 and %44 were males and females, respectively. %6 of males were at stage I %11 stage I-II %61 stage II %13 stage II-III %11 stage III-IV and %8 were at stage IV-V. %3 of the females were at unknown stage %3 stage I %11 stage I-II %60 stage II %14 stage II-III and 9% stage III. Of the 5 year old fish, %12.5 of males were at stage II % 25 stages II-III %50 stages III and %12.5 were at stage IV. %62.5 of females were at stage II and %37.5 were at stage II-III. Results of this study Compared with those obtained from fishes of the same age class studied in natural habitats as well as the results obtained for the farmed sturgeons from freshwater medium indicate that there is no similarly in the stage of gonadal development in different conditions. Longest stage in tow sexes was stage II that is longer in females, and passing of stage II in males is faster. Males showed more sexual maturity than females. Gonadic growth in culture medium is faster than wild condition, and it is faster in brackish water than fresh water. So, we can state that brackish water is a suitable medium for gonadic growth of Great sturgeon.