Salinity during embryonic development influences the response to salinity of Gasterosteus aculeatus L. (trachurus)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Individual male sticklebacks established nests, courted females, and cared for their fertilized eggs at 0 or 20.permill. salinity. The time to hatching was shorter at 0 than at 20.permill.. One-week-old fry that hatched in freshwater had a significantly lower mortality after 96 h in freshwater than fry that hatched in brackish water. Fry that hatched at 20.permill. grew little in freshwater and had their highest growth rates at 28.permill., while fry that hatched at 0.permill. showed little variation in growth rates at intermediate salinities and had reduced growth at 28.permill.. The mean duration of fanning bouts and the total duration of fanning was significantly greater at 0 than at 20.permill., particularly toward the end of the incubation period, but the aggressive behavior did not differ between the two hatching salinities.