Reevaluating fecundity of white perch (Morone americana) in Chesapeake Bay with modern stereological techniques

The white perch (Morone americana) is an abundant estuarine teleost in eastern North America, with its commercial and trophic importance creating a need for fecundity and recruitment data. In this study, we reevaluated the fecundity of subpopulations of white perch in Chesapeake Bay. Stereological sampling methods were used to determine if environmental changes in the Chesapeake Bay watershed over the last 60 years have altered average fecundity of this species. These methods were compared with automated gravimetric methods to determine the efficacy of using stereological fecundity sampling for white perch. The results of using both methods were statistically the same, as indicated by a Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient of 0.98 and a favorable distribution on Bland–Altman plots. After the stereological methods were validated, archival histological samples from the Choptank River sub-estuary were evaluated for fecundity over a 4-year period of sampling. Results indicate that fecundity of white perch has been reasonably unchanged in the river system, with an average estimated fecundity of 69,379 oocytes per fish. These findings indicate the resiliency of the reproduction of white perch in mesohaline Chesapeake Bay, despite widespread environmental change.