Abstract Although incorporating detailed reproductive data into all stock assessments is not a practical goal, the need to understand how reproductive biology affects population productivity is being increasingly recognized. More research focused on reproductive biology—coupled with a shift towards a resilience perspective in fisheries science—is resulting in challenges to many long-held assumptions; the emergence of important new issues; and identification of the need to improve data and methods used in reproductive studies. Typically, data for reproductive studies are based on an assessment of gonadal development, which is most accurately evaluated with histology. This special section of Marine and Coastal Fisheries contains contributions from a workshop on the gonadal histology of fishes that was held in Cadiz, Spain, during June 2009. These papers cover a wide range of species and reproductive topics while introducing improved and new histological techniques. In this introduction, we address the following needs: (1) to employ standardization, thereby improving our ability to conduct comparative studies; (2) to better understand patterns of gonadal development and spawning events over time; and (3) to move beyond the spawning stock biomass paradigm. We identify the contributions of special section papers to these topics and conclude by suggesting needs for future research and integration of reproductive data into both conceptual and quantitative models to better understand how reproductive performance affects population dynamics.