Atlantic Herring Clupea harengus are iteroparous (repeat spawners) with group‐synchronous oocyte development and determinate fecundity, and they are total spawners. However, they also exhibit plasticity in other aspects of their reproductive biology including spawning seasonality and skipped spawning. Previous studies in other regions have reported skipped spawning and errors in macroscopic classifications of maturity, both of which could bias estimates of reproductive potential, but a critical assessment of these in U.S. waters is lacking. In the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, herring are assessed as a single stock complex, where females typically mature as 3 to 4 year olds and may live up to 11 years. To evaluate the magnitude of skipped spawning, we collected the ovaries of Atlantic Herring from fishery‐dependent and fishery‐independent sources over multiple seasons and evaluated them histologically to assess imminent (indicated by vitellogenic or maturing oocytes) or recent spawning (evidenced by the presence of postovulatory follicles). Gonad histology allowed us to determine spawning seasonality and skipped spawning. Macroscopic maturity classification was more accurate in fall (1–4% incorrect maturity) than in spring (7% incorrect maturity). The spatial distributions of immature and mature fish from both fishery‐dependent and fishery‐independent sources differed, which affected the estimation of maturity at length and age. We estimated 9–14% spring spawners in the region, but we did not find evidence of skipped spawning. The time series of the macroscopic data that were available (1987–2018) showed increases in spring spawning with latitude, but the proportions have not changed much over recent decades. The effects of up to 30% spring or skipped spawning on a stock assessment of Atlantic Herring were evaluated. Spring spawning had little effect relative to assuming 100% fall spawning (the current assumption), and skipped spawning decreased the scale of spawning stock biomass (SSB) and related reference points, with the degree of change increasing with skipped spawning rates, but it had few consequences otherwise.

中文翻译：

---

美国水域大西洋雌性鲱鱼的生殖生物学：验证分类方案以评估春季和跳过产卵的重要性

大西洋鲱鱼Clupea harengus是具有群体同步卵母细胞发育并决定繁殖力的同胎（重复产卵），它们是总产卵。但是，它们在生殖生物学的其他方面也表现出可塑性，包括产卵季节和跳过产卵。之前在其他地区的研究报告说，在成熟度的宏观分类中没有出现产卵和错误现象，这两种情况都可能使对生殖潜力的估计产生偏差，但是在美国水域中却缺乏对这些可能性的严格评估。在缅因州海湾和乔治银行，鲱鱼被认为是单一种群，其中雌鱼通常成熟到3至4岁，并可以活到11岁。要评估跳过的产卵的数量，我们在多个季节从依赖渔业和不依赖渔业的来源收集了大西洋鲱鱼的卵巢，并对其组织学进行了评估，以评估即将到来的（由卵黄形成或成熟的卵母细胞表示）或最近的产卵（由排卵后卵泡的存在证明）。戈纳德的组织学使我们能够确定产卵季节并跳过产卵。宏观的成熟度分类在秋天（不正确的成熟度为1-4％）比春天（错误的成熟度为7％）更准确。依赖渔业和不依赖渔业的未成熟和成熟鱼类的空间分布各不相同，这影响了在长度和年龄上对成熟度的估计。我们估计该地区的春季产卵量为9–14％，但我们没有发现产卵跳过的迹象。现有的宏观数据的时间序列（1987-2018年）显示，随着纬度的增加，春季产卵量增加，但比例在最近几十年中变化不大。对大西洋鲱鱼种群评估中高达30％的春季或跳过产卵的影响进行了评估。相对于假设100％秋季产卵（当前假设）而言，春季产卵影响不大，而跳过产卵会降低产卵生物量的规模（SSB）和相关参考点，其变化程度随产卵率的增加而增加，但除此之外几乎没有后果。