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Publication
Contrasting links between growth and survival in the early life stages of two flatfish species
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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Understanding the causes of variation in recruitment of marine fishes has been a central goal over the last century. However, the relationship between year class strength and larval growth and survival is poorly known for most species. The main goal of this study was to investigate the relationships between larval traits and year class strength of two flatfish species in an nursery estuary. We examined the effects of the variation in the early life characteristics (pelagic larval growth, pelagic larval duration, size-at-hatching and size-at-settlement) on post-settlement survival of flounder Platichthys flesus and common sole Solea solea in the Mondego estuary (Portugal) over a 5-year period (2011–2015). The two flatfish species showed distinct larval traits variation during the study period, mainly related with location of the spawning ground and intrinsic biologic patterns. Flounder was able to delay metamorphosis while gathering energy and/or waiting for suitable environmental cues from estuarine origins while sole take advantage of better environmental conditions due to a later hatching. Early fast growth were strongly related with subsequent growth, affecting larval survival. Both growth and larval traits variation during the studied period were strongly related with temperature. This study highlights the importance of early growth for fish survival and contributes with key information on fish early life stages that will support a better management of fish stocks.
Description
A.L. Primo and F. Martinho are funded by national funds (OE),
through FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology), I.P.,
in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and
6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by
Law 57/2017, of July 19. A. Vaz is funded by the FCT (Portuguese
Foundation for Science) through a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/137862/2018).
Financial support was obtained through the project “Mytag - Integrating
natural and artificial tags to reconstruct fish migrations and ontogenetic
niche shifts” (PTDC/MAR-EST/2098/2014), under the Project 9471 –
Reforçar a Investigaçao, ˜ o Desenvolvimento Tecnologico ´ e a Inovaç˜
ao
(Projeto 9471-RIDTI) and subsidized by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016787) and through the
strategic plan of the Centre for Functional Ecology - Science for People
and the Planet (CFE) (UIDB/04004/2020), financed by FCT/MCTES
through national funds (PIDDAC). Additional support was also obtained
via project “RENATURE - Valorization of the Natural Endogenous Resources of the Centro Region” (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000007),
funded by the Comissão de Coordenacã̧o da Região Centro (CCDR-C)
and subsidized by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).
We also acknowledge the support from the Integrated Program of
SR&TD “SmartBioR” (reference Centro-01-0145-FEDER-000018, cofunded by CENTRO2020/PORTUGAL2020/FEDER).
Keywords
Estuary Microstructure Platichthys flesus Otolith larval growth Solea solea
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Ana Lígia Primo, Ana Catarina Vaz, Daniel Crespo, Filipe Costa, Miguel Pardal, Filipe Martinho, Contrasting links between growth and survival in the early life stages of two flatfish species, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Volume 254, 2021, 107314, ISSN 0272-7714, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107314
Publisher
Elsevier