Champion egg layers

Some fish don’t lay eggs. Some fish lay a few eggs. Some fish lay
thousands of eggs, and some fish lay millions of eggs.

A mother herring may lay more than forty thousand eggs at a time. The
eggs drop down in the water and stick to sand, rocks, or plants. A
mother sardine may lay more than eighty thousand eggs. Her eggs float in
the water.

The champion egg layer is the ocean sunfish, which may lay as many as
300 million eggs.

With millions of fish laying millions of eggs, you might think the
oceans, lakes, and rivers would be filled with baby fish. But most fish
eggs never hatch. Fish eggs have no shells to protect them. They are
round and soft like bits of jelly. Many eggs wash ashore and dry up.
Many are gobbled up by other fish. Only a few eggs out of every million
ever become adult fish.