Early Life History of Antarctic Fishes

鱼类幼体是浮游动物群落的重要组成部分，但对南极幼体鱼类生态的研究较少。海洋鱼类幼体发挥作用的过程影响南极鱼类的动态，并最终影响整个南极海洋生态系统。在对这些过程进行有意义的研究之前，必须确定哪些生活史阶段和/或环境事件对幼虫的生长、存活和最终招募到成年种群具有重要意义。在研究鱼类耳石的微结构模式方面取得了显著进展，从而加强了对影响鱼类幼体存活的变量的检查；耳石结构有效地充当了年表信息的存储地点。在仔鱼调查中使用耳石技术有望提供仔鱼生长速度、孵化周期和环境历史的时间表，随后将有可能更好地了解仔鱼的过程。通过执行受控的实验室实验，将研究耳石的微观结构，以确定耳石形成的致病因素。来自实验室实验的知识将被应用于野外种群，以描绘幼鱼的年龄和生长。由此产生的信息将与环境数据相结合，以便生长和生存将与幼鱼栖息地的物理和生物方面有关。这些结果将提供一个结构框架，在这个框架内，研究可能指向阐明影响生长和死亡的因素，并将为其他生态系统中的类似研究指明方向。通过利用耳石信息开发的广泛模型将适用于补充研究，并将极大地提高我们对南极鱼类种群早期生活史阶段的动态的了解。

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.