Premium
The effects of temperature, pH and water hardness on winter starvation of young‐of‐the‐year smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieui Lacepede
Author(s) -
Shuter B. J.,
Ihssen P. E.,
Wales D. L.,
Snucins E. J.
Publication year - 1989
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.1095-8649.1989.tb03028.x
Subject(s) - micropterus , starvation , bass (fish) , biology , zoology , ecology , fishery , endocrinology
Year‐class strength in northern populations of smallmouth bass is strongly influenced by winter starvation of young‐of‐the‐year. We examined starvation among young bass under both winter and summer light and temperature conditions. During starvation, body condition declines to a specific level and then the fish dies. Body condition at death is a well defined function of body size that remains relatively constant over a wide range of environmental conditions. Starvation rate varies systematically with body size, temperature, pH and water hardness. Available stored energy increases more rapidly with body size than starvation rate. Therefore, lifetime under starvation conditions tends to increase with increasing body size. The Q 10 for starvation rate over the temperature range 2.5‐8° C is 2.2. Starvation rate increases as pH declines from 7.0‐4.9: the rate at pH 4.9 is ∼ 1.25 times the rate at pH 7 Starvation rate decreases as Ca concentration increases from 1 mgl −1 to 80mgl −1 : the rate at 80 mg Ca 1 −1 is ∼0.80 times the rate at 1 mgl −1 .