Development, Survival, and Growth of Larval Weakfish at Different Prey Abundances

Abstract

We reared larvae of weakfish Cynoscion regalis at different prey abundances in the laboratory (20.5°C). Larvae began to feed 52 h after hatching. When prey was withheld up to 72 h after larvae had the ability to feed, there was no increase in starvation-induced mortality. However, when prey was withheld more than 24 h, growth was significantly reduced. Times to yolk exhaustion (70 h posthatching) and irreversible starvation (168 h posthatching) were similar to those measured for other marine fishes reared at similar temperatures. We measured growth and mortality of 3–9-d-old larvae at prey abundances approximating those found in Delaware Bay and concluded that natural variations in prey abundance in systems such as Delaware Bay are sufficient to cause large variations in the growth rate of young weakfish larvae.