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Breeding programs for barramundi (Lates calcarifer) are impeded by the lack of control over the sexual development of broodstock. As a protandrous hermaphrodite, barramundi initially sexually mature as male at 2–3 years (2–4 kg body weight; BW), before changing sex to female at 4–6 years (>6–8 kg BW). Recently, precocious female barramundi have been generated using a single intramuscular estrogen implant, providing the potential to speed up the sex change process and implement same-age mating of male and female broodfish. However, the functional maturation of hormonally-induced precocious females and their ability to spawn and produce viable progeny remains untested.

Male barramundi (~2.2 kg BW, 57.8 cm total length; TL) were hormonally induced to sex change using an estrogen implant. The precocious female barramundi were cannulated at 6 (T1), 8 (T2), 10 (T3), 11.5 (T4) and 13 (T5 …