Early Life History of Antarctic Fishes

鱼类幼体是浮游动物群落的重要组成部分，但对南极鱼类幼体生态学的研究却很少。海洋鱼类幼虫的功能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、生存和最终进入成年种群具有重要意义。鱼类耳石微观结构模式的研究取得了巨大进展，加强了对影响幼鱼生存的变量的研究；有效地充当时间信息存储地点的结构。利用耳石技术研究幼鱼有望提供幼鱼生长速度、孵化周期和环境历史的时间表，并随后使更好地了解幼鱼的过程成为可能。通过控制实验室实验的执行，耳石的微观结构将被调查，以确定参与耳石形成的病原体。实验室实验所得的知识将应用于实地种群，以划定幼鱼的年龄和生长情况。所得到的资料将与环境数据结合起来，以便将生长和生存与幼鱼生境的物理和生物方面联系起来。这些结果将为阐明影响生长和死亡率的因素的研究提供结构框架，并将为其他生态系统的类似研究提供指导。通过利用耳石资料开发的一个广泛的模型将适用于招募研究，并将大大提高我们对南极鱼类种群早期生活史阶段动态的了解。

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.