The early life history of fish—there is still a lot of work to do!

Abstract The themed set of articles that follows this introduction contains a selection of the papers that were presented at the 36th Annual Larval Fish Conference (ALFC), convened in Osøyro, Norway, 2–6 July 2012. The conference was organized around four theme sessions, three of which are represented with articles in this collection: “Assessing the relative contribution of different sources of mortality in the early life stages of fishes”; “The contribution of mechanistic,behavioural, and physiological studies on fish larvae to ecosystem models”; “Effects of oil and natural gas surveys, extraction activity and spills on fish early life stages”. Looking back at the main themes of earlier conferences about the early life history of fish reveals that they were not very different from those of ALFC2012. Clearly, we still have a lot of work to do on these and other topics related to the biology and ecology of fish early life stages.

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Maturation, reproduction and early life history of anglerfish Lophius piscatorius in Faroese waters

Fróðskaparrit - Faroese Scientific Journal ◽

10.18602/fsj.v60i0.3 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 60 ◽

pp. 114 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lise H. Ofstad ◽

Torstein Petersen ◽

Petur Steingrund

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Early Life ◽

Early Life History ◽

Nursery Ground ◽

Life Stages ◽

Morphological Transformation ◽

Spawning Areas ◽

History Of ◽

Males And Females ◽

First Maturity

<p>Maturation, reproduction and early life history of <em>Lophius piscatorius </em>was investigated in Faroese waters. Length at first maturity (L50) was 58 cm for males and 84 cm for females, corresponding to an age of about four years for males and seven years for females. The proportions of females and males were similar in fish less than 55 cm long, and were skewed towards more males in medium sized fish (55–75 cm). Females were predominant in the larger fish (> 85 cm). Observations of spawning males and females, egg ribbons and pelagic anglerfish larvae, suggest that the main spawning season is from February to April and the spawning area seems to be southwest of the Faroe Plateau and in the Faroe Bank area. The Faroe Plateau probably serves as a nursery ground for juvenile anglerfish. Morphological transformation from larvae to juveniles occurred when the fish were about 7–9 cm long and they settled to the bottom when they were about 11 cm long. Thus, all life stages, as well as nursery areas, spawning areas and feeding areas of anglerfish are found in Faroese waters, indicating a separate stock in the area.</p>

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Early Life History of Redfish (Sebastes spp.) on Flemish Cap

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f84-130 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 41 (7) ◽

pp. 1106-1116 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

John T. Anderson

Keyword(s):

Early Life ◽

Slow Growth ◽

Fish Larvae ◽

Larval Growth ◽

Distinct Group ◽

Early Life History ◽

Larval Abundance ◽

Early Life Stages ◽

Fish Spawning ◽

History Of

Studies were carried out on Flemish Cap, 1978–82, to assess fish spawning cycles, the distribution, abundance, and growth of early life stages, and their relationship to environmental factors. Redfish larvae (Sebastes spp.) were the most abundant fish larvae found on Flemish Cap. Redfish began releasing larvae during March, reaching an abrupt peak in late April. Larval abundances of 733 larvae∙m2 were observed during the last week of April 1979, with highest sampled larval abundance for the study area being 6.8 × 1012 larvae. Redfish larvae first appeared in the southwest corner of Flemish Cap and within 3 wk were found in waters throughout the area over depths > 200 m. In July the survivors were concentrated over the Cap supporting the concept that Flemish Cap redfish constitute a distinct group. Larval growth for redfish was exponential through the periods sampled. However, in 1981, growth rate ranged from 0.40 to 1.66%∙d1. While larval growth was significantly correlated with average surface water temperature, high temperatures appeared to reduce larval growth. Slow growth during warm years appeared to be related to increased larval mortalities.

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International Symposium on the Early Life History of Fishes and Eighth Annual Larval Fish Conference

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society ◽

10.1577/1548-8659(1985)114<443:isotel>2.0.co;2 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 114 (4) ◽

pp. 443-444 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeffrey B. Marliave

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

International Symposium ◽

Early Life ◽

Larval Fish ◽

Early Life History ◽

History Of

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Prey tell: what quillback rockfish early life history traits reveal about their survival in encounters with juvenile coho salmon

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13300 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 650 ◽

pp. 7-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

HW Fennie ◽

S Sponaugle ◽

EA Daly ◽

RD Brodeur

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Early Life ◽

Life History Traits ◽

Direct Evidence ◽

Coho Salmon ◽

Larval Fish ◽

Early Life History ◽

In The Wild ◽

Otolith Microstructure Analysis ◽

Pelagic Juvenile

Predation is a major source of mortality in the early life stages of fishes and a driving force in shaping fish populations. Theoretical, modeling, and laboratory studies have generated hypotheses that larval fish size, age, growth rate, and development rate affect their susceptibility to predation. Empirical data on predator selection in the wild are challenging to obtain, and most selective mortality studies must repeatedly sample populations of survivors to indirectly examine survivorship. While valuable on a population scale, these approaches can obscure selection by particular predators. In May 2018, along the coast of Washington, USA, we simultaneously collected juvenile quillback rockfish Sebastes maliger from both the environment and the stomachs of juvenile coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch. We used otolith microstructure analysis to examine whether juvenile coho salmon were age-, size-, and/or growth-selective predators of juvenile quillback rockfish. Our results indicate that juvenile rockfish consumed by salmon were significantly smaller, slower growing at capture, and younger than surviving (unconsumed) juvenile rockfish, providing direct evidence that juvenile coho salmon are selective predators on juvenile quillback rockfish. These differences in early life history traits between consumed and surviving rockfish are related to timing of parturition and the environmental conditions larval rockfish experienced, suggesting that maternal effects may substantially influence survival at this stage. Our results demonstrate that variability in timing of parturition and sea surface temperature leads to tradeoffs in early life history traits between growth in the larval stage and survival when encountering predators in the pelagic juvenile stage.

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