page_title: Great northern tilefish
section_title: Reproduction
hierarchical_section_title: Great northern tilefish / Behavior / Reproduction
caption_attribution_description: English: Juvenile great northern tilefish or blue tilefish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps). Gulf of Mexico.
context_page_description: The great northern tilefish or golden tile, is the largest species in the family Malacanthidae, which grows to an average length between 38 to 44 inches. The great northern tilefish is a slow-growing and long-lived species, which has four stages of life. After hatching from eggs, the larvae are found in plankton. As they grow into juveniles, the individuals seek shelter until finding or making their own burrows. As adults, the tilefish continue to expand their burrows in the sediment throughout their lives. The diet of the larvae is unknown, but presumed to consist of zooplankton; juveniles and adults feed upon various benthic invertebrates, crustaceans, and fish. After reaching sexual maturity between 5 and 7 years of age, females lay eggs throughout the mating season for the male to fertilize, with each female laying an average of 2.3 million eggs.
  The great northern tilefish has been subject to regulation to prevent overfishing. Regulations include catch limits and gear restrictions to prevent damage to the species' habitat and population.
context_section_description: The fish spawn during the early spring to the late fall, from March to November. Peak spawning occurs during May to September in Mid-Atlantic Bight regions, differences in temperatures affect the breeding time. In U.S waters further south, the spawning season occurs from April to June. Males grow faster and reach larger sizes than females. Fishing pressure may cause males to spawn at smaller sizes, and at younger ages.
  The spawning behavior of the species is unknown, but it is presumed to be polygamous with the female choosing the male. Pair bonding has been exhibited, which is assumed to be a behavior that serves to insure fertilization of the eggs during the season. It was estimated that females can spawn about every four days for a total of 34 times per season. Depending on the size, the average female may lay  195,000 – 8 million eggs during spawning season, with the average female laying 2.3 million eggs.
  In response to the overfishing, the tilefish's age of sexual maturity has been dramatically affected. From 1978 to 1982, the median age of sexual maturity in males declined by 2.5 years from 7.1 to 4.6 years. This resulted in the males becoming sexually mature before females. In 2008, the median age of sexual maturity in males had risen to 5.9 years. Females of the species also exhibit low reproductive ability after becoming sexually mature, instead increasing with age and their sexual maturity has varied to a lesser extent than the male population across the years.
  A small percentage of golden tilefish is known to be intersexual, having opposite nonfunctional sex tissues. Male tilefish specimens also inhibited a cavity that came from ovarian tissue and sperm sinuses. Tilefish of both genders in the Gulf of Mexico exhibited a higher rate of intersex characteristics than other populations.
caption: Juvenile specimen
exif: {}