Interannual sex ratio and maturity of Indian parrotfish Chlorurus capistratoidesBleeker, 1847 in Wallace line at Spermonde Archipelago

Abstract

Abstract Indian parrotfish Chlorurus capistratoides live in abundance in the Indo-Pacific region. Indian parrotfish is one of seven new species found in Indonesian waters, one of 34 species of economically important parrotfish caught in the waters of Spermonde, South Sulawesi. This study aims to examine the sex ratio, gonad maturity stage, and the size at first maturity of Indian parrotfish. This research was carried out in 2014 and 2019, using samples of Indian parrotfish from the waters of the Spermonde Islands, landed by fishermen in Rajawali Makassar Fisheries Port, Makassar city. Indian parrotfish sex ratio was not balanced between male and female fish. This imbalance was covered up by the synchrony of maturity stages of the female and male. This synchrony could increase the success of the fertilization process. This synchrony explains why the population of Indian parrotfish was always there, even unbalanced in sex ratio, and because males can produce enough sperm to fertilize the eggs produced by several females. The relatively same reproduction parameters in 2014 and 2019 indicated that the reproductive parameters of Indian parrotfish had not been affected by different environmental factors of the two different years that differ in 5 years.