In Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis), females grow significantly faster than males. Moreover, gonadal development has a significant negative impact on somatic growth and fillet yield. In order to induce sterility, triploidy induction was attempted by subjecting fertilised eggs to heat shocks. Different combinations of temperature (28, 30, 34, 35 and 36 °C), duration (2, 5, 10 and 25 min) and time of shock initiation (TI = 3, 5 and 7 min post-fertilisation) were tested. Flow cytometry analysis was used to assess ploidy level of control and heat-shocked larvae. Low intensity (28–30 °C) and long duration (10 and 25 min) shocks lead to significantly higher survival (44 ± 26%) and triploidisation (71 ± 26%) rates than high intensity (34–36 °C) and short duration (2 and 5 min) shocks (17 ± 19% and 21 ± 26%, respectively). The most effective conditions for efficient triploidy induction were low intensity shock of 30 °C, applied 5 min post-fertilisation for 25 min. This treatment led to the production of all-triploid populations (100%) with up to 43% survival rate.
