The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of the genetic background of gonadal maturation of the European eel and to use gene expression profiles to identify predictive markers for broodstock selection that can be measured in blood samples. Three-year-old farmed silver female European eels were injected with 20 mg salmon pituitary extract (SPE) once per week and sampled after 4 weekly hormone injections. Four responders (gonadosomatic index > 1.5) and two non-responders (gonadosomatic index < 1.0) were selected for Illumina RNAseq analysis to identify early markers of responsiveness to gonadotropin treatment. Overall design: Deep-sequencing transcriptome analysis of ovarian samples derived from four responsive and two non-responsive eels after four weekly injections with gonadotropins.