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Fifth Annual Larval Fish Conference The Fifth Annual Larval Fish Conference C. F. Bryan, J. V. Conner, F. M. Truesdale Editors Proceedings of a Conference held at the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge Baton Rouge, Louisiana 2-3 March 1981 Louisiana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit and The School of Forestry and Wildlife Management The Fifth Annual Larval Fish Conference Copyright 1982 by the Conference Committee, C. F. Bryan, J. V. Conner, F. M. Truesdale Price: $ 8.00, advance payment required (includes fulfillment charges to USA addresses; add $ 2.00 for orders outside USA) Make checks payable to the sth Annual Larval Fish Conference and send to Louisiana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, 245 Ag Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803 Cover compiled by B. W. Bryan and C. W. Fleeger Printed in the United States of America by Louisiana State University Printing Office Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70893 II Preface The Fifth Annual Larval Fish Conference was a success for many reasons, foremost among which was the enthusiastic participation of 107 registrants who came from 31 of the United States and five Canadian provinces. Roughly two-thirds of the participants were from academia (happily including many students), while the remainder came in equal proportions from industry (consulting firms and utilities) and state or federal conservation agencies. The meeting featured 24 contributed papers and 15 posters, dealing mainly with growth estimation; distribution; feeding ecology; sampling methodology; and descriptive morphology of freshwater, estuarine, and marine fishes. Some of the contributions were withheld for publication elsewhere or other reasons but many, after peer-review and editing, appear in this volume. We gratefully acknowledge the special efforts of our reviewers, who are listed below, as well as the cooperation of the authors, who must at times have felt that they were being alternately ignored and harrassed. Special thanks are also due to the coordinators of our three informal workshops: Bruce D. Taubert ("Use of otoliths for daily-age estimation in fish larvae"); Daniel J. Faber and Perce M. Powles ("Larval fish sampling in lotic environments"): and Bruce W. Stender ("Identification of western Atlantic sciaenid larvae"). Assistance in planning the conference was provided by the hosts of previous meetings: Bob Wallus, Bob Hoyt, Ron Fritzsche, and Lee Fuiman. We appreciate the logistical support received from the following departments/organizations and individuals: Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service (Larry de la Bretonne and C. D. McKerley); LSU Division of Continuing Education (Dean W. W. Hymel and Mrs. Mabel C. Downs); LSU Department of Zoology and Physiology (Dr. K. C. Corkum, Gary Fitzhugh, John Scheide, and Sal lie White Scheide); and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (Mark Chatry). Many LSU fisheries students deserve thanks: Tim Bosley, Brian Boyer, Jim Ditty, Gary Hutton, Mike Millard, Maurice Muoneke, Marcos Velez, and Steve Zimpfer. Barbara Bryan and Kitty Conner helped with registration, coffee breaks, and airport transportation. Entertainment was coordinated by Dan C. Brazo, whose dignified ascent to the podium from the men's room was clearly the highlight of the jambalaya banquet. It was our pleasure to host the Fifth Annual Larval Fish Conference and to edit these proceedings. We assume full responsibility for errors and omissions. John V. Conner DEDICATION To Carol W. Fleeger and Steven J. Levine, without whose tireless efforts and enthusiasm there never would have been a Fifth Annual Larval Fish Conference ... 111 Reviewers Bryan, C. F. Laroche, J. Buchanan, J. P. Laroche, W. Conner, J. V. Martin. F. D. Diana, J. Perry, L. G. Dunn, J. R. Powles, P. M. Faber, D. J. Shelton, W. L. Fuiman, L. A. Snyder, D. E. Gallagher, R. P. Storck, T. Geaghan, J. P. Truesdale, F. M. Herke, W. H. Werner, R. G. Heufeider, G. R. Yant, P. Holland, L. IV Contents Preface. John V. Conner iii Daily growth of winter flounder (Pseudopl euronectes americanus) larvae in the Plymouth Harbor estuary. Richard L. Radtke and Michael D. Scherer 1 Growth efficiency estimates for laboratory-reared larval spotted seatrout fed microzooplankton or rotifers. A. Keith Taniguchi 6 A technique for the examination of otoliths by SEM with application to larval fishes. P. William Haake, Charles A. Wilson, and John M. Dean 12 Decline and cessation in fall feeding of 0 and 1-year-old Lepomis gibbosus in central Ontario. Nicholas Reid and P. M. Powles 16 Spatial and temporal patterns of springtime utilization of the Potomac Estuary by fish larvae. J. A. Mihursky, E. M. Setzler-Hamilton, F. D. Martin, and K. V. Wood 20 Ichthyoplankton density fluctuations in the lower Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, from 1976 through 1979. Barbara F. Lathrop 28 Temporal and spatial distribution of some young-of-the-year fishes in DeGray Lake, Arkansas, 1975-1978. Michael R. Dewey and Thomas E. Moen 37 Fish larvae caught by a light-trap at littoral sites in Lac Heney, Quebec, 1979 and 1980. Daniel J. Faber . 42 Comparative reproductive biology of the threadfin and gizzard shad in Lake Texoma, Oklahoma-Texas. William L. Shelton, Carl D. Riggs, and Loren G. Hill 47 Survival of several species of fish larvae after passage through the Ludington pumped storage power plant on Lake Michigan. Dan C. Brazo, Charles P. Liston, Richard P. O'Neal, Rick L. Ligman, Joseph R. Bohr, and Gregory J. Peterson 52 Correspondence of myomeres and vertebrae and their natural variability during the first year of life in yellow perch. Lee A. Fuiman 56 Influence of background color and intensity of illumination on melanophore expansion in larval fish. Pamela J. Mansfield and Alan H. Mansfield 60 Early development of the genus Ictiobus (Catostomidae) . Bruce L. Yeager and James M. Baker 63 Comparative development of redfin pickerel (Esox americanus americanus) and the eastern mudminnow (Umbra pygmaea). Robert Malloy and F. Douglas Martin 70 Development of larval Polyodon spathula (Walbaum) from the Cumberland River in Tennessee. Bruce Yeager and Robert Wallus 73 Ventral pigment patterns of Alosa aestival is and /\. pseudoharengus larvae. Karen Ripple, Phillip Jones, and F. Douglas Martin 78 Variations in ventral midline melanophore counts on some cultured Pacific sculpin larvae. Jeffrey B. Marliave and Victor J. Elderton 80 Effects of temperature on early development of red drum (Sciaenops. ocellata). Joan Holt and Connie Arnold . 83 Comparative efficiencies of 505 and 800 micron mesh nets for lake ichthyoplankton. Robert D. Hoyt and Dennis L. Webb 84 Seasonal species composition and biomass estimates of larval and juvenile fishes from North Inlet, South Carolina. Lynn Barker and Richard H. Moore 85 Distribution and abundance 'of eggs, larvae and juveniles of redfish (Sciaenops ocellatus) in seagrass beds in a south Texas estuary. Scott Holt and Connie Arnold 86 -* V Fifth Annual Larval Fish Conference La. Coop. Fish. Res. Unit, 1982, pp. l-5 Daily Growth of Winter Flounder (Pseudopieuronectes americanus) Larvae in the Plymouth Harbor Estuary Richard L. Radtke AND Michael D. Scherer ABSTRACT The formation of daily otolith increments was documented in larval winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) which made it possible to assess the age and growth of field-collected larvae. In reared larvae, increment deposition occurred on a daily basis after yolk sac absorption. Daily growth rates in length from field-collected specimens changed in accordance with the age of the larvae. Daily growth (in length) was found to be greatest 5 to 7 days after yolk sac absorption and thereafter decreased with an increase in age. The larvae from field collections conformed to a logarithmic (In) transformation of the independent (increments) variable with a resultant equation of V = 1.66 + 2.16 lnX. With these data the potential exists to compare population growth of different larval fish populations. INTRODUCTION The ability to discern absolute age of fish larvae to 12 days after hatching. Although prey densities were captured from the field is a prominent problem in not monitored, they probably exceeded two per ml. larval fish research. In the past, age calculations Approximately 10 larvae were fixed in 95% ethanol for and growth estimates were based principally on length otolith analysis on a daily basis from hatching through frequency distributions. For example, Sameoto (1972) day 20 and again on day 34. and Boyar et al. (1973) followed length frequency modes through time in order to calculate growth of herring Wild larval flounder were collected on two dates in larvae, Clupea harengus harengus. However, length fre- May 1980 at stations located in the Plymouth Harbor, quency techniques require large samples and thus may be Duxbury Bay estuary (station 8), the Plymouth Bight area prone to sampling error. Often the length frequencies of Cape Cod Bay, and, on the second date, the discharge observed are not true reflections of the age and growth canal of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (PNPS, Fig. of larval fish (Radtke 1978). Certainly, it is impor- 1). Water temperature and salinity ranged from 8-1 2° C tant that aging techniques for larval fish be as accu- and 28.0.28.5 °/00. Collections were made with a 0.333- rate as possible. mm mesh, 3/4mTucker net (Tucker 1951 and Clarke 1969) Daily increments have been found in the otoliths of many larval fish, and it has been postulated that these exist in all larval fish otoliths. Pannella (1971, 1974) was the first to describe daily increments in fish otoliths. Subsequent works by Brothers et al. (1976), Ralston (1976), Struhsaker and Uchiyama (1976), Taubert and Coble (1977), Barkman (1978), Radtke (1978, 1980), Radtke and Waiwood (1980), Schmidt and Fabrizio (1980), and Steffensen (1980) found daily increments in otoliths from a myriad of fish species. These studies have contributed to a better understanding of the population of dynamics of each species studied. The application of daily otolith increments to dis- cern population dynamics must be performed with discre- tion.