The feminization of green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus could expand their utility as a game fish or aquacultured species by preventing overcrowding and precocious reproduction in stocked systems. Feminization of green sunfish could also help elucidate information on their sex determination system. We report the feminization of green sunfish cohorts via oral administration of estradiol-17β (E2) during early development. A low-dose (100 E2 mg per kg of diet) and a high-dose (150 E2 mg per kg of diet) experimental E2 treatment were fed to juvenile green sunfish from 30 to 90 days post-hatch. Fish were subsequently evaluated for any treatment effect on gonadal development, survival, and growth. Both E2 treatments resulted in 100% feminization, with no morphological or histological differences detected between E2 treated ovaries and those from a control group. The control group was composed mostly of males (82.61%). Overall, there was no effect of E2 on survival (P = 0.310) and growth rate data suggested no statistical differences (P = 0.0805). However, the growth rate of the high-dose group increased slightly higher after the treatment ended than the other treatments (P = 0.042), suggesting that E2 might suppress growth in green sunfish. In addition, the control group did not exhibit a higher survival rate after the treatment period ended (P = 0.266), whereas both E2 treated groups did (P = 0.0003–0.0050). We found that the low dose, 100 E2 mg per kg of diet, was sufficient for fully feminizing green sunfish if administered during development from 30 to 90 days post-hatch and E2 dosages may result in deleterious effects on green sunfish's health and growth.

绿色翻车鱼Lepomis cyanellus的雌性化可以通过防止放养系统中过度拥挤和早熟繁殖来扩大它们作为猎鱼或水产养殖物种的效用。绿色翻车鱼的女性化也有助于阐明其性别决定系统的信息。我们报告了在早期发育过程中通过口服雌二醇-17β (E2) 使绿色翻车鱼群体女性化。在孵化后 30 至 90 天，将低剂量（100 E2 mg/kg 日粮）和高剂量（150 E2 mg/kg 日粮）实验性 E2 处理饲料喂给幼年绿色翻车鱼。随后评估了鱼对性腺发育、存活和生长的任何处理效果。两种 E2 治疗均导致 100% 女性化，在 E2 治疗的卵巢与对照组的卵巢之间未检测到形态学或组织学差异。对照组主要由男性组成（82.61%）。总体而言，E2 对生存率没有影响（P  = 0.310）和增长率数据表明没有统计学差异（P  = 0.0805）。然而，处理结束后高剂量组的生长速度比其他处理略高（P  = 0.042），表明E2可能抑制绿色翻车鱼的生长。此外，对照组在治疗期结束后没有表现出更高的存活率（P  = 0.266），而两个 E2 治疗组都有（P  = 0.0003-0.0050）。我们发现，如果在孵化后 30 至 90 天的发育过程中施用，每公斤饲料 100 毫克 E2 的低剂量足以使绿色翻车鱼完全雌化，而 E2 剂量可能会对绿色翻车鱼的健康和生长造成有害影响。