understand the main ecophysiological events associated to gonad development. Different
indicators (mainly biochemical) were analyzed to infer: i) utilization and accumulation of
energy reserves (eg neutral lipids, carbohydrates, proteins; vitellogenin), ii) membrane
components provided by the diet as essential nutrients and indicative of cell proliferation (eg
highly unsaturated fatty acids linked to phospholipids, sterols), iii) indicators of food …