Early maturity of economically important fish has become a global issue, which might affect the reproductive potential of fish stocks. We used the samples that were collected in a fisheries‐independent survey in the East China Sea annually around the end of August from 2002 to 2017 to investigate the maturation progress of female Hairtail Trichiurus japonicus in response to (1) spatial variation, (2) environmental variation, and (3) CPUE. The preliminary analysis indicated that the gonads of Hairtail in the southern area and the northern area began to develop at similar anal length (around 140–150 mm), but the development was faster in the southern area than in the northern area. The proportion of matured fish was significantly higher in the southern area than in the northern area in the group of fish with 170–210 mm anal length. Based on generalized additive models, we found that temperature and CPUE could affect the maturation schedules of female Hairtail in the East China Sea. The relationship between sea surface temperature and the probability of maturity was close to an s‐curve, while the stock density had an approximately negative effect on the degree of precocious puberty.

中文翻译：

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东海带尾鱼的成熟度随纬度和环境而变化

具有重要经济意义的鱼类的早熟已成为全球性问题，这可能会影响鱼类种群的繁殖潜力。我们使用2002年至2017年8月底每年在东海进行的一项独立于渔业的调查所收集的样本来调查雌性带毛Tri鱼的成熟过程响应（1）空间变化，（2）环境变化和（3）CPUE。初步分析表明，南部和北部地区的带毛性腺开始以相似的肛门长度（约140-150 mm）发育，但南部地区的发育速度快于北部地区。在肛门长度为170-210 mm的鱼群中，南部地区的成熟鱼比例明显高于北部地区。基于广义加性模型，我们发现温度和CPUE可能影响东海雌性带鱼的成熟时间表。地表温度与成熟概率之间的关系接近s曲线，而种群密度对性早熟程度具有大约负面影响。