We studied the in vitro and in vivo effects of octanoylated goldfish ghrelin peptides (gGRL_[19] and gGRL_[12]) on luteinizing hormone (LH) and growth hormone (GH) release in the goldfish. Both gGRL_[19] and gGRL_[12] at picomolar doses stimulated LH and GH release from dispersed goldfish pituitary cells in perifusion and static incubation. Two hour incubation of pituitary cells with 10 nM gGRL_[12], and 1 or 10 nM gGRL_[19] increased LH mRNA expression, while only 10 nM gGRL_[19] increased GH mRNA expression. Somatostatin-14 abolished the stimulatory effects of ghrelin on GH release from dispersed pituitary cells in perfusion and static culture. GHS-R antagonist, D-Lys³-GHRP-6 inhibited the ghrelin-induced LH release, while no effects were found on the stimulation of GH release by ghrelin. Intracerebroventricular injection of 1 ng/g bodyweight of gGRL_[19] or intraperitoneal injection of 100 ng/g bodyweight of gGRL_[19]increased serum LH levels at 60 minutes post-injection, while significant increases in GH levels were found at 15 and 30 minutes post-injection of these treatments. Our results indicate that in addition to its potent stimulatory actions on GH release, goldfish ghrelin peptides have the novel function of stimulating LH release in the goldfish.