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Viable embryogenesis of the winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus from - 1.8° to 15°C

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Abstract

Pseudopleuronectes americanus spawns in late winter near New York, and its eggs may be found in shallow water under ice at temperatures below the usual freezing point of vertebrate tissues. Survival and duration of development at a variety of constant temperatures were recorded for artificially fertilized eggs in the laboratory. Many eggs hatched into normal larvae after 2 months at the lowest temperature tried,-1.8°C. The upper lethal temperature was about 15°C. There was a linear relation between log time and temperature in the minimum mortality range (0° to 10°C), with a Q10 of about 4.8.

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Contribution No. 57 from the Program in Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Communicated by M.R. Tripp, Newark

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Williams, G.C. Viable embryogenesis of the winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus from - 1.8° to 15°C. Marine Biology 33, 71–74 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00395003

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