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Effect of egg incubation temperature on the occurrence of skeletal deformities in Solea senegalensis
Author(s) -
Dionísio G.,
Campos C.,
Valente L. M. P.,
Conceição L. E. C.,
Cancela M. L.,
Gavaia P. J.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied ichthyology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1439-0426
pISSN - 0175-8659
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2012.01996.x
Subject(s) - biology , hatching , incubation , ontogeny , larva , skeleton (computer programming) , zoology , anatomy , ecology , endocrinology , biochemistry
Summary Temperature is a factor known to have a marked influence on metabolism and consequently on development, inducing ontogenetic plasticity in fish larvae. In this study, three different temperatures (15, 18 and 21°C) were assayed during Solea senegalensis embryonic development prior to hatching. After hatching all larvae were reared at the same temperature (21.0 ± 0.1°C) until 30 days. We observed that lowering the incubation temperature from 21 to 15°C reduced the incidence of skeletal deformities from 80 to 60%. Intermediate incubation temperature (18°C), resulted in larvae that displayed a rate of abnormalities close to that observed at 15°C (64%). A similar typology of deformities was observed in fish from all rearing temperatures, with caudal vertebra being the most affected structures and with a low incidence of cranial and appendicular deformities. The effect of temperature in developmental plasticity will lead to osteological abnormalities mainly affecting the caudal vertebrae at 18°C (30%) and particularly the preural vertebra at 15°C (55%). Our results, clearly demonstrate a significant effect of water temperature during egg incubation on the skeletal development of Senegalese sole, indicating that 18°C is the most appropriated temperature. These findings highlight the importance of tightly controlling temperature regimes during the early development of S. senegalensis , and the need for optimizing rearing protocols in order to avoid skeletal disorders or impaired growth.