Yolked Oocyte Dynamics Support Agreement between Determinate- and Indeterminate-Method Estimates of Annual Fecundity for a Northeastern United States Population of American Shad.

Reports of American shad fecundity identify two important themes regarding egg production in fishes. First, geographic variation occurs and is biologically meaningful. Shad annual fecundity decreases with increasing latitude, but predicted lifetime fecundity does not, because of a counter-gradient of survival probability, all of which can explain the adaptive significance of natal homing.