NEW DATA ON THE REPRODUCTION OF MACROURIDS (TELEOSTEI, GADIFORMES)

The reproduction of deep-sea fishes is still poorly known, when it is not a total mystery. This is true in the case of those belonging to one of the most important bathybenthic families, the Macrouridae. During several research expeditions conducted by the Institut scientifique et technique des pêches maritimes aboard the oceanographic vessels Thalassa and Cryos, the stages of sexual maturity of two important species, Macrourus berglax and Coryphaenoides rupestris, were studied. The individuals examined came from trawl catches made on the Iceland-Faroe Ridge and the Rockall and Hatton Banks in spring 1975 and 1976 and on the continental slope off the Labrador and Newfoundland coasts in summer 1975 and winter 1976. In the light of the observations made, it was possible to determine the time of spawning, especially for Coryphaenoides rupestris in the North-East Atlantic. Both males and females of this species were at the spawning stage in mid-April 1975, while a month later, they had all reached the post-spawning stage. These observations were confirmed in 1976. © 1979 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.