Relationship between metabolic and reproductive hormones in salmonid fish.

Circulating concentrations of estradiol (E2), vitellogenin (VTG), thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3) and insulin were measured in reproductively maturing four and five year-old Atlantic salmon. Blood samples were collected from the fish in seawater for one year prior to their spawning in November in fresh water. In females, E2 and VTG were low but detectable from December to July, and then increased to peak levels in September and October. Plasma levels of T4 and T3 were relatively constant in winter and spring, and decreased in July. Plasma concentration of T4 increased in November when the fish returned to fresh water. Plasma T3 levels remained low during the autumn. Both T4 and T3 levels tended to be higher in males than in females during September through November. Plasma insulin concentrations increased during the spring to peak values in May, and then decreased in June and July in fish of both sexes. There was a significant elevation of plasma insulin in males during October, and the levels in males tended to be higher than those found in females during final maturation.