Premium
The embryonic development and the thermal effects on the development of the mountain whitefish, Prosopium williamsoni (Girard)
Author(s) -
Rajagopal P. K.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1979.tb03578.x
Subject(s) - biology , yolk sac , yolk , larva , incubation , zoology , embryogenesis , ecology , egg incubation , fishery , embryo , biochemistry
The general development of the mountain whitefish was similar to other whitefishes. Mountain whitefish required more thermal units to reach corresponding stages of the lake whitefish, after the stage when the blastodisc was prominently raised on the yolk. The development process was greatly disrupted and a heavy mortality of eggs occurred when the temperature was raised to 9° C or higher. In hatched larvae abnormalities like monomicrophthalmia, agape jaws, and coloboma occurred when the temperature was raised to 9° C or higher, although the reported optimum temperature for growth of the post yolk sac larvae and juveniles was 9° C‐12° C. The late spawned eggs exhibit adaptive mechanisms which enabled them to shorten the incubation time and hatch along with the early spawned eggs, when conditions for survival are at optimum.