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Ontogeny of swimming capacity in plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) larvae

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Abstract

Little is known regarding the swimming ability of the larvae of European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in relation to changes in total length (TL), dry weight (DW) and developmental stage, which is surprising given the importance of transport processes to the recruitment dynamics of this species in the North Sea and elsewhere. We investigated ontogenetic changes in the critical swimming speed (U crit) of plaice from hatching to the onset of metamorphosis (50 days post-hatch, dph) at 8 °C. The mean (±SD) TL and DW growth rates were 1.59 ± 0.81 and 7.7 ± 0.35 % d−1, respectively. Larvae were unable to swim at against a minimum current speed of <0.5 cm s−1 until 10 dph (7 mm TL), after which U crit significantly increased with increasing TL until the onset of metamorphosis and subsequent settlement. Mean (±SD) U crit was 0.38(0.35), 1.59(0.54), 2.27(0.49) and 2.99(0.37) cm s−1 for stage I (6.61 ± 2.64 mm TL), stage II (7.75 ± 0.60 mm TL), stage III (9.10 ± 1.00 mm TL) and stage IV (11.59 ± 0.85 mm TL) larvae, respectively. Larval TL, DW, DNA content, RNA content and U crit significantly increased, whereas sRD significantly declined as larvae developed from stage I to V. Although inter-individual differences in U crit (coefficient of variation, CV = 33 %) were as large as those in biochemical and morphological condition (CV’s of 21–42 %), differences in U crit were not significantly related to those in nutritional condition and larvae with lower DNA/DW had also better swimming abilities. These estimates should be useful to ongoing efforts to create individual-based models of the transport, foraging and growth of plaice larvae in the North Sea.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Cindy van Damme, Adrian Rijnsdorp, Ralf van Hal, Franziska Bils for their help in collecting adult plaice; Martina Wichmann, Edurne Blanco and Julia Berg for their help in rearing the larvae and Santiago Álvarez-Fernández for his help with the statistical analysis. Two anonymous reviewers provided comments that helped improve an earlier version of this manuscript. M.M. was supported by an Alexander von Humboldt post-doctoral fellowship, S.G. by a FCT post-doctoral Fellowship SFRH/BPD/38332/2007 and A.F. by a FCT post-doctoral Fellowship SFRH/BPD/68673/2010. This work was partially supported by Project VITAL (FCT—PTDC/MAR/111304/2009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal

    Luis Silva & Susana Garrido

  2. Institute for Hydrobiology and Fisheries Science, University of Hamburg, Olbersweg 24, 22767, Hamburg, Germany

    Marta Moyano, Björn Illing & Myron A. Peck

  3. Eco-Ethology Research Unit, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, R. Jardim do Tabaco 34, 1149-041, Lisbon, Portugal

    Ana M. Faria

  4. Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), Avenida Brasília s/n, 1449-006, Lisboa, Portugal

    Susana Garrido

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  1. Luis Silva
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Correspondence to Luis Silva.

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Communicated by X. Irigoyen.

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Silva, L., Moyano, M., Illing, B. et al. Ontogeny of swimming capacity in plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) larvae. Mar Biol 162, 753–761 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-015-2621-0

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