Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

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happyfriggincamper
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Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by happyfriggincamper » Wed Jun 10, 2020 10:17 pm

Can't be bothered googling - so calling on peoples knowledge instead...how do you identify the gender of a fish?

My main interests are Murray cod, yellow belly, bass, Eps if anyone can share how they identify fish gender for these.

Also happy for people to add other species I haven't mentioned as it may be of interest to others.

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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by DougieK » Thu Jun 11, 2020 7:56 am

I ask it what it wants for dinner and if it takes 20 attempts to get a straight answer I assume it's female.
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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by Sebb » Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:48 am

Shark is the easiest. Male has two claspers (reproductive organ) and the female doesn't have any.

No idea about other species. I think some fish born female and turn to male. Still, no idea how to identify it. During spawning season, often the male squirt its milk when caught. Just like female trout dropping eggs.
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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by purple5ive » Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:51 am

You literally Look for the **** In most of em tbh!!
some can be sneaky buggers though, and change sex when they need to mate.


in the above mentioned species i got NFI as i havent fished for them much.

but generally in egg layers, if they are milting then they are males.
Live breeders then look for dingolfica sudafica

also in tropics, the males are generally the more colourfull ones, females are quite dull in colour and also smaller in size

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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by happyfriggincamper » Thu Jun 11, 2020 1:36 pm

purple5ive wrote:
Thu Jun 11, 2020 8:51 am
You literally Look for the **** In most of em tbh!!
Haha - presuming **** is either Frank's or beans?

Never honestly looked for the parts - thought for the most part they are internal and look like a hole on the outside most the time. Just generally went off differing body features similar to what you mentioned (but differing based on species).

How about species you frequent? Are you able to eye off the gender of a snapper, flattie, bream?

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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by Andrews » Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:43 pm

I think potentially sexual dimorphism is what you're looking for, where the two sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics beyond the differences in their sexual organs. Some species display differences, other do not. Organs are the 100% way of doing it.

I'd maybe look for some scientific papers for the species, or similar species with fisheries reports being another great resource.

Murray Cod has 'no known sexual dimorphism', so the only way to determine sex is organs.
Report by SA Fisheries

Golden Perch has 'no sexual dimorphism'.
WA Fisheries Report

Estuary Perch have 'no sexual dimorphism'.
CSIRO Report

I'd say identifying the organs external features would be the best non-invasive way.
Last edited by Andrews on Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by Texas » Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:46 pm

Never looked, only found the gender while gutting them
Where are truedogz, broomstick & gts hoon when you need them
If your checking out the genitalia of juvenile fish, is that illegal ???
No fish fetish here
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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by DougieK » Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:51 pm

Texas wrote:
Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:46 pm

Where are truedogz, broomstick & gts hoon
TD and Broomy might be helpful. Cam's probably checking his own gender.
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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by happyfriggincamper » Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:33 pm

Andrews wrote:
Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:43 pm
I think potentially sexual dimorphism is what you're looking for, where the two sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics beyond the differences in their sexual organs. Some species display differences, other do not. Organs are the 100% way of doing it.

I'd maybe look for some scientific papers for the species, or similar species with fisheries reports being another great resource.

Murray Cod has 'no known sexual dimorphism', so the only way to determine sex is organs.
Report by SA Fisheries

Golden Perch has 'no sexual dimorphism'.
WA Fisheries Report

Estuary Perch have 'no sexual dimorphism'.
CSIRO Report

I'd say identifying the organs external features would be the best non-invasive way.
Great post - thanks for this! You've covered pretty much what I was curious on.

I guess examples of sexual dimorphism I've used to identify trout gender:

- the upper snout (elongated = male / round = female)
- the lower jaw (protruding = male / tucked = female)
- anal fin (convex = male / concave = female)

but they aren't always prominent in them until a certain size.

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Re: Lazy topic - fish gender ID thread

Post by Andrews » Fri Jun 12, 2020 4:55 pm

happyfriggincamper wrote:
Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:33 pm
Andrews wrote:
Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:43 pm
I think potentially sexual dimorphism is what you're looking for, where the two sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics beyond the differences in their sexual organs. Some species display differences, other do not. Organs are the 100% way of doing it.

I'd maybe look for some scientific papers for the species, or similar species with fisheries reports being another great resource.

Murray Cod has 'no known sexual dimorphism', so the only way to determine sex is organs.
Report by SA Fisheries

Golden Perch has 'no sexual dimorphism'.
WA Fisheries Report

Estuary Perch have 'no sexual dimorphism'.
CSIRO Report

I'd say identifying the organs external features would be the best non-invasive way.
Great post - thanks for this! You've covered pretty much what I was curious on.

I guess examples of sexual dimorphism I've used to identify trout gender:

- the upper snout (elongated = male / round = female)
- the lower jaw (protruding = male / tucked = female)
- anal fin (convex = male / concave = female)

but they aren't always prominent in them until a certain size.
No worries, it's always interesting learning more about the growth and behaviour of the species we target!

Yeah, I'd imagine those features would appear as they mature.
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