We investigated the changes in the egg diameter of chub mackerel Scomber japonicus with the stages of egg development (and distinguished between hydrated oocyte and non-hydrated oocyte) for 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 30 days. The chub mackerel oocytes were preserved in seven fixing solutions (70% ethyl alcohol, 99.9% ethyl alcohol, 5% formalin, 10% formalin, 5% neutral buffered formalin, 10% neutral buffered formalin and Gilson’s solution). At 30 days, the chub mackerel hydrated oocytes preserved in 70% ethyl alcohol and 99.9% ethyl alcohol had shrunk by 5.2% and 7.9%, respectively. Similarly, the non-hydrated oocytes in the same solutions shrunk by 10.3% and 14.0%, respectively. Oocytes preserved in Gilson’s solution had an average egg diameter decrease in both the hydrated oocyte (by 16.9%) and non-hydrated oocytes (by 15.6%). The diameter of the preserved hydrated oocytes did not significantly differ between the 5% formalin, 10% formalin, 5% neutral buffered formalin and 10% neutral buffered formalin, with shrinkage percentages of 0.6%, 0.1%, 1.9% and 3.4%, respectively (P>0.05). Similarly, the shrinkage percentages of the non-hydrated oocytes were 4.3% (5% formalin), 5.5% (10% formalin), 4.3% (5% neutral buffered formalin), and 4.1% (10% neutral buffered formalin).