Abstract
Rates of development, growth and yolk conversion efficiency were determined in larvae of the summer flounder Paralichtys dentatus at constant temperatures of 21°, 16°, 12° and 5°C and in temperature cycles of 21°–16°, 16°–11°, and 11°–5°C. In constant incubation temperatures, development rate increased with increasing temperature. Larvae reared in the cyclic temperature regimes exhibited development rates intermediate to those at the temperature extremes of the cycle. All larvae reared at 5°C and in the 11°–5°C cycle regime died prior to total yolk-sac absorption. Although development rates were temperature dependent, no significant differences in notochord length ash-free dry weight or yolk utilization efficiency were found at the time of total yolk-sac absorption. The similarity in growth and yolk utilization efficiency for larvae reared under these various temperature regimes suggests that the physiological mechanisms involved are able to compensate for temperature changes encountered in nature.
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Hamburg
Contribution No. 195 from EPA, Environmental Research Laboratory, Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882, USA
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Johns, D.M., Howell, W.H. & Klein-MacPhee, G. Yolk utilization and growth to yolk-sac absorption in summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) larvae at constant and cyclic temperatures. Mar. Biol. 63, 301–308 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00396000
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00396000