Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Georgia
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The goal of this study is to describe the reproductive status of the tripletail aggregation near Jekyll Island, GA. The use of traditional histological methods requires researchers to collect and sacrifice large numbers of fish in order to produce meaningful results. However, non-lethal alternative may also be effective. Objectives: * Use of non-lethal measures of reproductive physiology (e.g, sex hormones, vitellogenin, ultrasound imaging) for assessment of tripletail reproductive status. * Validate non-lethal assessment methods by comparing results with gonad histology * evaluate efficacy of using sagittal otolith and first dorsal spine for determining age of tripletail in Jekyll Island aggregation.