Examination a hypothesis "growth rate-dependent recruitment" using an archives of sardine otolith

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Growth rate during the early life stages of Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax during 1980-2000s was examined based on widths of otolith growth increments as a proxy of daily somatic growth rate in relation to abundance of recruits and environmental factors. Growth rate during the early juvenile stage(60-90 days after hatching) positively correlated with abundance of recruits and sea surface temperature in summer. Previous studies on Japanese sardine S. melanostictus have demonstrated that abundance of recruits is a positive function of growth rate during the early juvenile stage, which is the growth rate-dependent recruitment hypothesis. The results in this study show that the same hypothesis could be applicable for S. sagax and suggest that increase in temperature during the early juvenile stage enhanced growth and survival rates and consequently increased recruitment of S. sagax in the 1990s.