Egg Size Variation in Central Texas Populations of Etheostoma spectabile (Pisces: Percidae)

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Abstract
Variation in size of ripe eggs (dry weight) was investigated in 5 central Texas populations of the orangethroat darter, E. spectabile. In natural populations, egg weight varied within populations over the course of a single breeding season, among populations from different localities and among females collected at the same time and place. Eggs were heaviest when water temperatures were coldest, but correlations between egg size and water temperature measured in the field were not always significant. Laboratory observations revealed that individual females can produce multiple clutches with significant interclutch variation in egg weight. Egg size in many, but not all, females varied inversely with laboratory water temperature. Despite individual plasticity, significant among-female and geographic differences in egg weight were apparent in the laboratory, suggesting that egg size has non-proximate (e.g., developmental or genetic) as well as proximate environmental determinants.

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