Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Sexing fish using ultrasound

I know this might be out of left field but hey that's where I live....

I am curious if anybody has tried using ultrasound to sex a mature fish. If so, was it 100% accurate. I was wondering, if I had a bucket of mature BCP pre spawn, 3 year olds and up, using ultrasound could I with 100% accuracy determine which ones were females?

Thoughts? I know the availability and cost of a portable ultrasound is questionable but solely from a science perspective would this work?

I've wondered the same thing myself. US is used to sex some salmon--don't know about warm water species. I'm sure it would be possible to use US during spawning time--eggs would likely have a very characteristic sonographic signature, and testes also. I suspect it might be a lot more challenging when the gonads are less engorged, but in expeienced hands, amazing detail can be distinguished on US.

Fish would probably be easy to examine; air is the enemy of US as an imaging modality, and the transmision of sound though scales/skin would likely be very efficient.

Would be great to see SDSU dive in on this....could have great applicability to pond manageent. There could be significant commercial potential as well, can you imagine being able to offer guaranteed SS BG, YP, BCP and LMB??

I can't think of the name of the instrument but there is a small glass tube that you can stick up the urogenital pore of a fish to determine the gender. If you insert the tube, cap it, then remove it there should be eggs/semen in the tube.

Yolk - I think we are on the same page. Any Pro's seen, heard of, or experienced Ultra Sound with fish sexing.

Chris- I was thinking of a very fast, minimally invasive, and 100% accurate way to sex BCP. Using the tube method, is this 100% accurate on adult fish? Difficulty to learn?

Very easy to learn and 100% accurate if it is during spawning season. That's what all the biologists down here use when checking to see if eggs are ready.

Google capillary tube. Pretty sure that is the name of it.

Thanks Chris!