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Effects of egg composition and prey density on the larval growth and survival of lake whitefish ( Coregonus clupeaformis Mitchill)
Author(s) -
Brown R. W.,
Taylor W. W.
Publication year - 1992
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.1095-8649.1992.tb02585.x
Subject(s) - biology , coregonus clupeaformis , predation , larva , zoology , ecology , fishery , fish <actinopterygii>
Eggs were collected from two stocks of lake whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformis , in Lakes Michigan and Huron to assess the effect of egg composition and prey density on larval growth and survival. Egg composition parameters including wet weight (mg egg −1 ), dry weight (mg egg −1 ), percent water, total caloric content (cal egg −1 ), caloric density (cal egg −1 ), percent lipid content, and total lipidcontent (mg egg −1 ) were measured. Fish hatched from six parental females in each stock were fed one of four rations (0, 18, 24, 50 brine shrimp larva −1 day −1 ) after yolk sac absorption. Length at hatch, endogenous growth, exogenous growth, and survival were measured during a 42‐day laboratory experiment. Length at hatch of larvae was positively related to egg caloric content ( r 2 =0.780). Endogenous growth for lake whitefish larvae was positively related to percent lipid content ( r 2 =0.896) and total egg lipid content ( r 2 =0.876) of parental females. Exogenous growth and survival of larval lake whitefish was positively related to prey availability. Larval fish growth was accurately modelled ( r 2 =0.973) as a function of prey abundance using a threshold‐corrected hyperbolic equation. These results indicate that both egg composition and prey availability have the potential to influence the growth and survival dynamics of larval lake whitefish significantly.