Early Life History of Antarctic Fishes

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Fish larvae are an important component of the zooplankton community, yet little attention has been focussed on Antarctic larval fish ecology. The processes by which marine fish larvae function affect the dynamics of antarctic fishes and ultimately the entire antarctic marine ecosystem. Before meaningful research can be conducted on these processes, it is essential to identify which life history stages, and/or environmental events are significant to larval growth, survival and ultimately recruitment into the adult population. The examination of variables influential to larval fish survival has been augmented by dramatic advances in the study of microstructural patterns in fish otoliths; structures which effectively serve as storage sites of chronological information. The employment of otolith techniques in larval fish investigations promises to provide a schedule of larval fish growth rates, hatching periodicity, and environmental histories, and subsequently would make it possible to better understand larval fish processes. Through the execution of controlled laboratory experiments, otolith microstructure will be investigated to determine the causative agents involved in otolith formation. Knowledge from the laboratory experiments will be applied to field populations to delineate larval fish ages and growth. The resultant information will be coupled to environmental data in order that growth and survival will be related to the physical and biological aspects of larval fish habitats. These results will provide the structural framework within which research may be directed toward elucidating the factors influential to growth and mortality, and will guide the way for similar research in other ecosystems. A broad model, developed through the utilization of otolith information, would be applicable to recruitment studies and would greatly improve our understanding of the dynamics of the early life history stages of Antarctic fish populations.