Predation Mortality of Fish Larvae: Peril of the Unfit or the Unfortunate?

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9529207 Cowan Fluctuations in the abundances of fish stocks result from biotic and environmental factors that affect the survival of early life stages. Mortality from predation is a major regulator of year-class size and its interaction with larval growth rate and the time at which larvae are vulnerabile to predators may be the mechanisms most often operating in the sea. This research focuses on an alternative to a generally accepted hypothesis for larval recruitment, specifically, that growth rate and innate fitness, not simply size, influence survival potential of larvae. Data from ethological, modeling and mesocosm experiments will provide a basis for understanding the importance of predation on recruitment of larvae to adult stocks. ***