On the Road Again! President's Message

Volume 39, Number 3 October 2018 Audrey J. Geffen & Cindy J.G. van Damme, Editors

Inside This Issue. . . Section Flag Tour - on the road again! • President’s Message Graham Hanson and Jon • Section Officers. . . Barge show off the LFC flag • People in the field while sampling • News. . . lake sturgeon larvae, part of • News from the Regions. . . ongoing work on remedia- • Pacific Region. . . tion and restoration in the • Western Region. . . • North Central Region. . . Great Lakes. • Northeast Region. . . – Joel Hoffman • Southern Region. . . Ecosystem • European Region. . . Services Branch, EPA • Section Business. . . Duluth, Minnesota • Larval Fish Conference. . . • Early Career Committee. . . • Upcomming Events. . . • Newletter Production Team President’s Message • Editor’s Ramblings. . . Dear friends and colleagues, My first action as President is to thank Frank Hernandez (outgoing-President) and Dominique Robert (outgoing- ELHS Back Then Secretary) for their work over the last two years be- 15 years ago: Jeff Govoni cause the Section is in excellent shape and they were is appointed as ELHS Histo- pro-active in ensuring the success of our programs and rian/Archivist have provided Hannes and I with their expertise on 20 years ago: President Jim how to maintain the effective management of the Sec- Cowan calls for drafting of ELHS tion’s activities. I also want to thank Jeff Buckel for his Standing Rules with a committee continued involvement as our Treasurer, keeping track meeting at Dauphin Island Marine of our funding provides resources for student travel Lab. and awards. I would also like to welcome Claire Paris- 25 years ago: ELHS President Don Hoss argues against dissolution Limouzy (President-elect) and Alison Deary (Secretary-elect) and thank them of ELHS and formation of Annual for putting the names forward to continue the activities of the Section into the Larval Fish Conference organiza- future. Finally, it’s important to extend my appreciation to the Newsletter’s tion focused solely on the Annual editors (Cindy van Damme and Audrey Geffen), our time-and-place committee Larval Fish Conference chair (the ever-persistent Chris Chambers), our webmaster (Klaus Huebert) 35 years ago: Ahlstrom Memo- and our outgoing historian (Jeff Govoni), and the early career committee rial Symposum "Ontogeny and (Alison Deary and Marta Moyano): all of whom work in the background but Systematics of Fishes" held in La their contributions represent essential elements that keep the Section going. I Jolla, California, with 75 papers would also like to thank Stu Ludsin who volunteered to provide a mentoring by 70 invited speakers. session on "Demystifying the Proposal Process" aimed at early career scientist at LFC 2018. Deadline for material to be This year is a time for renewal for many of the Section’s positions. Dominique included in the next issue of Robert has volunteered to take over the webmaster position to give Klaus Stages: some relief after several dedicated years of service. Klaus provided important improvements to the content and quality of presentation of the section’s February 15, 2019 website during his tenure. ...continued next page President’s Message cont. Recently, has asked to step down. I am certain In taking over the role of President the ELHS has adopted additional so- that the entire Section wishes to ex- during the 2018 LFC in Victoria, I felt cial media platforms (Twitter, Face- press its gratitude for Jeff’s dedication very comfortable with the state of the book). These will require coordina- to maintaining the historical record of Section. Participation in the confer- tion among the various platforms be our activities. Much of the informa- ence was good and I got a very strong improved to ensure continuity and tion is maintained on the LFC website sense of community spirit during all conformity of content, as well as but some paper archives of the ELHS parts of the meeting, whether dur- timely updates in this time of instant are maintained at Jeff’s residence, out- ing the various social events, breaks access of information. The impor- side of Beaufort, NC, and it may be or during the Q & A portions of the tance of these media was obvious dur- time to transform those records to an sessions. Several first-time partici- ing the LFC as a number of partici- electronic format. Again, I am seeking pants commented on how approach- pants fed these information streams a volunteer to take on the role for the able everyone was; a clear sign that throughout the meeting. Section. the conference achieved its primary Alison Deary and Marta Moyano have An important aspect of the Section’s goal - enhance the exchange of ideas asked to step down from their role. activities involves fund-raising for stu- among those interested in research Both have been very active in pro- dent awards and travel grants. In re- on the early life stages of fish. If I viding stimulating opportunities to cent years, funds generated through compare the nature of the contribu- learn about important aspects of ca- the silent auction donations and raffle tions to those I encountered during reer development for young scien- (Sally Richardson Award) and sale of my first LFCs, many years ago, I found tists entering our field of research. the flag (John Blaxter Award) have that current research into early life They also worked on development of covered the costs of the awards. How- stages generally aims for greater in- a post-conference survey that helps ever, we have had no income to the tegration into understanding the dy- the ExComm and conference planners Grace Klein-MacPhee fund and we namics of systems rather than princi- to understand what works and what have covered the costs of travel grants pally focused on recruitment dynam- doesn’t. Their energy and enthusiasm to students from our general fund. Al- ics. Our conference left me with a will be missed. I am therefore seek- though our resources are stable we sense that research into the early life ing volunteers to take on this role for can expect a considerable number of stages had reached a degree of ma- the Section - Alison and Marta have requests for funding from North Amer- turity that provides important insight offered to provide guidance. Anyone ican students for next year’s LFC in into the importance of egg, larval and interested can contact me directly. Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, juvenile in the life cycle of fish and their position in aquatic ecosystems. The second post we need to fill is that Spain. The Executive Committee will of Section Historian. Jeff Govoni, af- have to consider options to meet the — Pierre Pepin ter 14 years of service to the Section, expected demands. Back to Contents

Section Officers

President Secretary Treasurer Pierre Pepin Hannes Baumann Jeffrey Buckel Fisheries and Oceans Canada Department of Marine Sciences Center for Marine Sciences & Technology St. John’s, NL Canada University of Connecticut North Carolina State University [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

President-Elect Secretary-Elect Claire Paris Alison Deary Rosenstiel School of Marine and Eco-FOCI Atmospheric Science, University of Miami Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle [email protected] [email protected]

Back to Contents People

Public Outreach for your Research istry, geology, physics), and we par- is to provide the source material and Dear colleagues, ticularly like to use the program to to fact-check the 250-word script that explain how things work in the ma- our writer produces. Do you or your colleagues need an rine world. Science and the Sea also We produce a new volume containing easy way to achieve significant pub- features recent research discoveries. lic outreach for your research? I 13 episodes every 3 months. We are have been producing an audio pro- I welcome any ideas you have for top- gearing up for volume 51 right now. gram called Science and the SeaTM ics that you feel would be interest- So, let me know if you have any ideas. since 2006. That program is an au- ing to a general audience. If you We could have your episode of Sci- dio segment which is broadcast by have published something exciting ence and the Sea on the air between 272 affiliates in the U.S. and Canada, and would like us to try to cover that January and March if you send me an and it is also a podcast and a website work, send me a reprint and I will idea soon. But, we accept script ideas (www.ScienceAndTheSea.org). Each have our scriptwriter work on it. We at any time, so keep this in mind in program is 2 minutes long and con- can produce a story about your work the future, too. veys something interesting about the at no cost, or we can offer sponsorship Lee Fuiman, [email protected] marine world in an engaging way. Sci- of a fee and we’ll mention your fund- University of Texas Marine Science ence and the Sea covers all aspects of ing agency at the end of the episode. Institute Either way, the only work on your part marine science (e.g., biology, chem- Back to Contents

News

PhD Opportunity at Southern Illi- 2) the role of tributaries in supporting desirable but not required. Please nois University large river fish populations. send cover letter, CV, unofficial tran- With an anticipated start date of Jan- scripts, GRE scores, and contact in- uary 2019, the research will focus on Qualifications include M.S. in Fish- formation for three references to Dr. advancing our understanding of: eries, Aquatic Ecology, or related field, Greg Whitledge [email protected] 1) relationships between spatial pat- strong written and oral communica- – Kristen Bouska terns of early life history and recruit- tion skills and strong analytical skills. USGS, La Crosse, WI ment of fishes in the Upper Mississippi Experience with fish sampling in large Back to Contents River, and rivers and otolith microchemistry is News from the Regions

Pacific Region lected in the Sargasso Sea, and it form eel mysteries: Identifica- was genetically matched with the tion of Neocyema and Monog- rare orange-colored deep-sea anguilli- nathidae leptocephali and in- Akinori Takasuka form Neocyema erythrosoma (Fig. 1A) dication of a new fish family which has only been collected a few "Neocyematidae" based on lar- Recently, an interesting times, and only in the North Atlantic vae, adults and mitogenomic paper on unusual lep- (Poulsen 2015). The paper shows gene orders. PlosOne 13(7): tocephalus larvae has photographs of the larvae of each of e0199982. been published. A co- the known types of "saccopharngi- • Smith, D. G., and M. J. Miller author from the Pacific form" fishes (Fig. 1), which are (1996) Cyematid larvae of the Rim, Mike Miller, intro- included within the Anguilliformes Leptocephalus holti group in duces key findings of (Inoue et al. 2010), and the clear the Atlantic and Pacific oceans the paper. genetic and gene order differences (Pisces: Saccopharyngiformes). along with morphological differences Breviora No. 503: 1-12. Unusual leptocephalus larvae seem to indicate it represents a sepa- matched with deep-sea eels rate family of deep-sea anguilliforms. The leptocephalus larvae of elopo- —Michael J. Miller morph fishes have always been diffi- Nihon University, Japan, cult to match with their adult forms [email protected] because their larval morphology is Back to Contents totally different than the juvenile and adult body forms. Poulsen et al. Western Region (2018), with coauthors from Japan, recently reported on the previously unknown identities of two types of Dan Marguiles unusual leptocephali and used DNA Guide to Larval and sequences and gene orders to show Early Juvenile Cyprinids the likely existence of a new anguil- of the middle and lower liform family. A larval type that was Pecos River and Rio tentatively referred to for many years Grande: Morphological as "Leptocephalus holti" (Fig. 1B left) Descriptions, Compar- was thought to possibly belong to isons, Illustrations, and the family Cyematidae (Smith and Computer-Interactive Key Miller 1996) because it shared some References morphological features with the lar- • Inoue J. G., M. Miya, M. J. One of the more diverse freshwa- vae of Cyema atrum (Fig. 1C left), Miller, T. Sado, R. Hanel, J. A. ter fish assemblages in the North such as pointed jaws and dorsal spots. López, K. Hatooka, J. Aoyama, American Southwest can be found in However, DNA sequences revealed Y. Minegishi, M. Nishida, and K. the Pecos River in eastern New Mex- that the several different types of Tsukamoto (2010) Deep-ocean ico and northwestern Texas and the Leptocephalus holti were actually the origin of the freshwater eels. Rio Grande upstream of the Pecos larvae of the Monognathidae (Fig. Biol. Lett. 6: 363-366. River confluence through Big Bend 1B right), and one larva from the • Poulsen J. Y. (2015) Fifth con- National Park. At least 55 species of North Pacific was an exact sequence firmed record and North At- fish have been reported from these match with Monognathus jesperseni. lantic range expansion of the riverine systems, of which 38 are The monognathids are small anguil- rare pelagic bobtail snipe eel native species representing 12 fam- liforms that live in the bathypelagic genus Neocyema (Cyematidae, ilies. Cyprinids (native and non- zone, but their larvae live in the sur- Elopomorpha). Mar. Biodiv. native) compose about 50% of the fish face layer with other leptocephali. Rec. 8(e53): 1-5. found in these aquatic regions. An even more unusual larva that is • Poulsen, J. Y., M. J. Miller, T. Native fishes in the Pecos River and unique among leptocephali in having Sado, R. Hanel, K. Tsukamoto, Rio Grande have undergone severe orange pigment spots on its head, and M. Miya (2018) Resolving range reductions, extirpations, and ex- throat and gut was recently col- deep-sea pelagic saccopharyngi- tinctions. ...continued next page Western cont. Key contributors to scriptions of 16 species of cyprinids, 1American Southwest Ichthyological these losses are river fragmentation, 12 native and four introduced. Each Researchers, L.L.C., 800 Encino Place, water diversion and delivery practices, species description documents meris- NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102-2606 nonnative fish introductions, and wa- tics, morphometrics, pigmentation 2Larval Fish Laboratory Department ter quality degradation. These al- patterns, gut phase transitions, and of Fishery and Wildlife Biology Room terations have a significant impact sizes relative to selected developmen- 33 Wagar Building Colorado State on short-lived cyprinids. Several tal events. Three-view (dorsal, lateral, University Fort Collins, Colorado native cyprinids in this watershed and ventral) drawings illustrate larval 80523-1474 are listed as species of concern by and early juvenile ontogeny of each state and federal resource agencies. species. Differences among species Back to Contents Cyprinids within the reproductive within the discrete ontogenetic phases guild of pelagic-broadcast spawners can be discerned by referencing the North Central Region that produce semibuoyant eggs are comparative tables and figures. In particularly vulnerable. This guild is addition, a computer-interactive key Ed Roseman acutely susceptible to river fragmenta- is also provided that integrates these tion and reduced or altered flow. facets for ease of identification. All of Confirmed Successful There is a dearth of information per- these components work in concert to Spawning of Lake Stur- taining to cyprinids of this region and help improve the ability of researchers geon in the St. Marys even less regarding their early life his- to identify larval and early juvenile River tory. With funding provided by the cyprinid species from the study area. A new collaborative U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, American This guide is a companion work to the project between US Southwest Ichthyological Researchers forthcoming Cypriniform Fish Larvae Army Corps of Engi- and the Larval Fish Laboratory (LFL) and Early Juveniles of the Middle neers, US Geological Survey, US Fish at Colorado State University collabo- Rio Grande guide and collectively, and Wildlife Service, and Lake Supe- rated on this project utilizing the effec- they markedly elevate our knowledge rior State University has resulted in tive format and computer-interactive of fishes in the Rio Grande Basin the first documentation of lake stur- keys developed by the LFL. The pur- upstream of Amistad International geon (Acipenser fulvescens) spawning pose of this guide is to help facilitate Reservoir. in the St. Marys River proper. This future monitoring and recovery pro- The guide and its computer- project is evaluating a change in the grams to assess this vulnerable life interactive key, Cyprinid Fish Larvae compensating gate schedule. The stage and provide a better understand- and Early Juveniles of the middle and compensating gates located just up- ing of the complex spawning dynam- lower Pecos River and Rio Grande, stream of the St. Marys Rapids, along ics of species in this family. can be downloaded from the LFL with the navigational locks, regulate The recently completed guide webpage LFL webpage. the outflow of Lake Superior into (Cyprinid Fish Larvae and Early Juve- — W. Howard Brandenburg1, Darrel. Lake Huron. ...continued next page niles of the middle and lower Pecos E. Snyder2, Steven P. Platania1, and River and Rio Grande) provides de- Kevin R. Bestgen2 North Central cont. A multi-year early- tant fisheries species and year, can be calculated. Prelimi- life history survey began this spring is a primary goal of fisheries science nary results using data from 1997 and to document fish use and larval fish and management. The deepwater 1998 (with help of Félix Lauzon, a hatch phenology in the St. Marys redfish fishery, Sebastes mentella, also Natural Sciences and Engineering Re- River upstream and downstream of known in Québec as the "sébaste", has search Council of Canada undergrad- the St. Marys Rapids, as well as near a been under a moratorium in the Gulf uate summer intern), showed no feed- recently completed restoration project of the St. Lawrence since 1995, after ing selectivity by larvae for individual in an area known as the St. Marys Lit- overfishing and years of poor annual zooplankton species. Copepod eggs tle Rapids. Eggs were collected using recruitment caused local populations provided larvae with approximately egg mats at 27 locations. to crash and remain low. Unprece- 50 % of their consumed carbon con- Lake sturgeon, troutperch (Percop- dentedly high recruitment of the 2011 tent in nearly all size classes and both sis omiscomaycus), sucker (family cohort, along with relatively strong years, followed by Calanus finmarchi- Catostomidae), and steelhead (On- recruitment of the 2012 and 2013 cus nauplii, which provided between corhynchus mykiss) eggs were cap- cohorts, have allowed the Gulf red- 9 - 34% of consumed carbon in the tured at locations throughout the river. fish population to rebound to a record larval diet. Larval fish sampling began at ice-out high biomass of 2.5 million tons in In addition to species-specific stom- and continued through August. Lar- 2017, and talks of reopening the fish- ach content analysis, this project aims vae were sampled at 16 locations in ery are currently underway. to add early life growth data from the river using a variety of sampling Little is known about the early life his- daily otolith ring measurements in gear including bongo, Miller, conical, tory of S. mentella, and the environ- order to determine how diet affects and benthic D-frame nets. Lake stur- mental drivers behind the successful growth rates of individuals. Long geon (21 individuals) were captured recruitment years of 2011-2013 are term oceanographic data collected by in the D-frame nets from 6 July - 26 unknown. Starvation is believed to be the DFO for variables such as spring July as yolk-sac and larvae. Other one of the primary causes of mortal- SST, salinity, ice coverage, and cold in- fish identified include sculpin (family ity during the larval stage. The qual- termediate layer depth, will be used to Cottidae), burbot (Lota lota), rainbow ity and quantity of food consumed by determine which oceanographic fac- smelt (Osmerus mordax), salmonids a larva can affect its growth, phys- tors drive environments that are con- (family Salmonidae), and sticklebacks iology, and behavior, all of which ducive for well-fed, strong cohorts (family Gasterosteidae). The collec- play a role in its survival to recruit- of larval S. mentella. Results from tion of lake sturgeon eggs and larvae ment. Dominique Robert (Univer- this project will hopefully shed some are of special interest to managers be- sité du Québec à Rimouski) and Pas- light on recruitment variability of this cause they are listed as threatened in cal Sirois (Université du Québec à species in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Michigan and endangered in Ontario. Chicoutimi) received funding from the and aid in management of the sébaste Sampling for eggs and larvae in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans fishery in the future. St. Marys River will continue and be Canada (DFO) to investigate the diet expanded in 2019. of larval and juvenile S. mentella. PhD — Robin de Bruyne candidate Corinne Burns, who joined USGS, Ann Arbor, MI the lab at UQAR in January 2018, focuses on the trophodynamics, the Back to Contents transfer of nutrients between trophic Preliminary results suggest that ap- levels, of larval S. mentella in the Gulf proximately half of the carbon in Northeast Region of St. Lawrence to understand feed- the larval S. mentella diet is from ing preferences, growth, and survival zooplankton eggs. C. finmarchi- Katey Marencik of this species. cus and Oithona spp. nauplii are Currently, preserved S. mentella lar- also commonly found in the lar- The Way To the vae from collections made in the Gulf val guts. ...continued next page Heart of Sébaste of St. Lawrence between 1997 and Recruitment Is 2000 are being measured and dis- Through Its Stom- sected. Zooplankton found inside ach larval stomachs are identified to the Understanding pop- species and developmental stage. Us- ulation dynamics of ing these data, feeding preferences of commercially impor- larval S. mentella, both by size class a critical window of development coupling and pelagic recycling. This leads to long-term changes in an ani- study demonstrates that egg boons mal’s metabolism. In the case of red can be very useful for investigations drum, the amounts of certain fatty of trophodynamics in marine ecosys- acids in eggs are correlated with the tems and Lee hopes to apply a simi- amount of certain fatty acids (espe- lar approach on a larger scale toward cially DHA) in larval tissues 21 days improved understanding of climate ef- later, even when the DHA level of the fects on populations of economically larval diet is very high. Further, DHA important fish populations. content of the larval tissues is cor- related with performance of various Northeast cont. Recruitment of the traits, such as escape responses. Doc- 2011 cohort of S. mentella was magni- toral student Zhenxin Hou is leading tudes greater than any other recruit- the effort to refine our understand- ment event to date. Poor recruitment ing of metabolic programming in red since the mid-1980s prevented S. drum and uncovering the physiolog- mentella populations from rebound- ical mechanisms that are affected by ing after being overfished in the Gulf early nutrition. Prior experiments by of St. Lawrence. Ken Webb demonstrated that the win- — Corinne Burns dow during which programming oc- ISMER, Université du Québec à curs does not extend beyond the on- Rimouski set of first feeding (manuscript in re- Rimouski, Canada view). We are using methods of RNA- Seq to screen 30,000 genes for differ- Back to Contents ential expression related to metabolic programming, with the hope of nar- Southern Region rowing the range of physiological sys- tems to explore in greater depth. We Trika Gerard are also collaborating with Stefano Tiziani’s metabolomics laboratory at Larval fish diet, Dell Pediatric Research Institute at metabolism, fatty The University of Texas at Austin. This acids ... oh my! collaboration brings highly special- The Fisheries and ized analytical techniques to bear on Mariculture Labora- the topic. tory (FAML) of the Lee completed analysis of an 8-year University of Texas time series of the egg boon produced Marine Science Insti- by the annual spawning aggregation Figure 1. Temporal changes in annual tute, under the lead- of red drum at Port Aransas (Fuiman mean fatty acid composition of red ership of Dr. Lee Fuiman, resumed 2018). That time series started 2 drum egg boons (red) and the October normal research efforts after suffer- years before and extended 2 years Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI, ing severe damage to facilities from beyond the longest and most severe dashed blue lines). Axes for egg boon Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. drought in Texas history. The annual composition (PC scores, solid red lines) The research group is moving full mean fatty acid composition of those are inverted; and axes for egg boon speed ahead on activities that led to eggs showed a striking parallel with year are offset to the left by the speci- the completion of a master’s degree, the Palmer Drought Severity Index fied lag to facilitate comparison. Error sparked new collaborations, and pro- (see Figure 1). bars show +/- 1 SE. (from Fuiman duced multiple publications. A detailed analysis of those results 2018, doi:10.1002/ecm.1324). A major research effort underway con- revealed significant changes in the tinues to explore metabolic program- summer diet of adult red drum, and ...continued next page ming in red drum. Metabolic pro- from that the study concluded that the gramming (or nutritional program- egg boons mediated climate-related ming) occurs when nutrition during shifts in the degree of benthic-pelagic Southern cont. Corinne Burns com- Females fed a high DHA diet produced recruitment", "Climate change", "Sam- pleted her master’s degree in Decem- eggs with a significantly higher pro- pling and preservation methods", ber 2017 under the supervision of Lee portion of DHA after 3 weeks on the "Fish egg identification, key identi- Fuiman. Her thesis, entitled "Fatty experimental diet. DHA in eggs from fication features, relevant literature Acid Composition of the Maternal females fed a low DHA diet decreased and available resources", "Computer Diet Affects Egg and Larval Quality for 5 weeks, then increased, suggest- identification keys", "genetic iden- of Southern Flounder, Paralichthys ing that those females first used di- tification", and, of course, lectures lethostigma," contains two research etary DHA to make yolk then shifted and labs on larval fish identification. chapters which she is preparing for to DHA stored in liver or white mus- In the first week we provided pre- publication. Those chapters describe cle. identified larval samples from the her experiments on (1) the effects of Recent publications from Team Eastern North Atlantic in order to maternal diet on egg fatty acid con- Fuiman: train the identification on a species tent and what those mean with regard level. During the second week we to the reproductive energy allocation • Burns, C.M. 2017. Fatty Acid sorted and identified parts of the strategy of southern flounder; Composition of the Maternal huge museums larval fish collection Diet Affects Egg and Larval and (2) the effects of maternally de- from the Pacific. We aimed for a Quality of Southern Flounder, rived nutrients on fatty acid composi- family level for this collection, but Paralichthys lethostigma. Mas- tion and predator evasion behavior of in many cases the participant were ter’s thesis, The Univ. of Texas, southern flounder larvae. Yolk of ma- even able to identify to a genus or Austin. 61 pp. rine fish eggs is highly concentrated in species level. Once identified, the • Faulk, C.K., E.W. Oberg, K.L. fatty acids (FAs) that are used for en- specimen/s received a MNHN collec- Thompson, and L.A. Fuiman. ergy, hormone production, and mem- tion number. In total the larval fish 2018. Optimal culture tem- brane structure. Essential fatty acids collection received about 400 new perature for larval and ju- (EFAs) are fatty acids that cannot be collection entries! This is amazing venile pigfish, Orthopristis biosynthesized in physiologically suf- and Fig. 1 shows some rare and/or chrysoptera L. Journal of the ficient amounts and must be obtained beautiful examples. At the same we World Aquaculture Society. (doi: from the diet. Since EFAs in yolk are still left with thousands of un- 10.1111/jwas.12501). must originate in the maternal diet, sorted and unidentified samples that • Fuiman, L.A. 2018. Egg boon a study was conducted to determine can be used in many, many future fatty acids reveal effects of a cli- whether changes in maternal dietary courses. So watch out, when we matic event on a marine food docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, an im- will announce it again! For more web. Ecological Monographs. portant EFA for proper larval devel- pictures and info visit our website: (doi: 10.1002/ecm.1324). opment) during a spawning season https://sites.google.com/view/larval- had an effect on the proportion of Back to Contents fish-course/syllabus). DHA in eggs of Southern flounder, Par- The course was spearheaded by alichthys lethostigma. Adult flounder European Region the collection curator of the MNHN were conditioned on a common diet Nalani Schnell and Cyril Gallut and and then switched to a high DHA diet, Larval Fish Course 2018 at the featured by five experts in larval low DHA diet, or no change (control) Marine Station of the Muséum Na- fish taxonomy and ecology from after the first spawn. Spawns were tional d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) across the globe: Catriona Clemme- produced weekly and DHA content of For the first time we held a European sen (GEOMAR, Germany), Cindy the eggs was measured by gas chro- based Larval Fish Course at the ma- van Damme (Wageningen Marine Re- matography. rine station of the Muséum national search, Netherlands), Peter Konstan- d’Histoire naturelle in Concarneau, tinidis (Oregon State University, USA), France from 17th-28th September. It G. David Johnson (Smithsonian In- was a small but very international stitution, USA), Ai Nonaka (Smith- group with seven participants from sonian Institution, USA). ...continued Norway, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Sin- next page gapore and the US. The course in- cluded lectures on the following top- ics "What do larvae feed on, and how do they feed, match-mismatch theory", "Physical processes, environmental factors", "Age and growth", "Cohorts, Europe cont.

Larval Fish Course group photos, working in the lab, and sampling during the bad weather — Catriona Clemmesen (GEOMAR, Germany) and Nalani Schnell (MNHN, France)

Section Business

Larval Fish Conference tries of which about a third were Anderson (NOAA, NMFS, Alaska Fish- students. There were a total of 89 eries Science Centre, Seattle) with a talks and 31 posters spread over five talk entitled "The contribution of fish themed and one contributed sessions. early life studies to ecosystem based The Sally Richardson award for best fishery management". Janet is the student oral presentation went to An- program manager for the AKFSC’s Re- drew Corso from the Virginia Institute cruitment Processes Program and is for Marine Science for a talk dealing co-lead for the Ecosystems and Fish- Report from the 42nd Annual Larval with "A time-series analysis of the lar- eries Oceanography Coordinated In- Fish Conference val fish assemblage of the Western vestigation (EcoFOCI) Program. Her Organized by Francis Juanes (Univer- Antarctic Peninsula". The John H.S. research elegantly links early life his- sity of Victoria), Pierre Pepin (Fish- Blaxter Award for best student poster tory ecology to fisheries recruitment eries & Oceans Canada) and John went to Carolin Muller from the Uni- dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Dower (University of Victoria). versity of Rhode Island for the poster In her talk she used various case stud- The 42nd Annual Larval Fish Confer- "Growing up in a plastic ocean - the ies to illustrate the development of ence took place in Victoria, BC from impact of microplastic uptake in juve- indicators to be used in assessment, June 24-28 2018. The meeting at- nile seabream". The meeting began forecasting and tracted 120 participants from 22 coun- with a keynote lecture by Janet Duffy- ...continued next page Section Business cont. ecosystem based (DFO, Institute of Ocean Sciences) fisheries advice for management. As and held at the University of Victoria. such, and because of her work on egg, The 30 participants sorted through larval and juvenile stages, the talk ichthyoplankton samples to give them served as an excellent introduction hands-on experience in: 1) under- to all the themes of the conference. standing the morphological charac- The five theme sessions included: [1] teristics used to identify early stage There is life (and death) after meta- fishes, 2) using larval fish identifica- morphosis: Recent advances in the tion keys, and 3) curation of ichthy- ecology of juvenile fish: Yes, it’s oplankton collections. The second AFS Early Life History Section Busi- called the Larval Fish Conference, workshop was a session for early ca- ness Meeting Report but the section is the Early Life His- reer scientists organized by Marta Tuesday, June 26, 2018, Victoria, tory Section, which includes juvenile Moyano (University of Hamburg) and British Columbia, Canada stages, generally through the first year Alison Deary, and led by Stu Ludsin 1) ELHS Secretary’s Report of life. Talks in this theme high- (Ohio State University). The focus 1.1) Membership As of September lighted research on juvenile fish, par- was on ’demystifying proposal writ- 2018, the Early Life History Section ticularly given the current interest ing’. The 15 participants heard tips (ELHS) of the American Fisheries So- in the ecology of juvenile salmonids about how to prepare an effective pro- ciety (AFS) is composed of 198 full and forage fish in BC, Alaska, Wash- posal and were given advice from an members and 30 affiliate members. ington, Oregon and elsewhere; [2] expert panel with experience writing Total membership has remained rel- Fisheries oceanography in a changing and evaluating proposals in the US atively stable from last year, even ocean: This session included a range and Europe. though the proportion of full mem- of topics including changing ocean cli- From the organizers’ perspective, the bers has increased (209 full members mate and possible consequences for conference was highly successful be- and 20 affiliate members in 2017). the ecology/physiology of larval fish, cause the quality of the posters and At the end of the grace period in for match-mismatch and other phe- presentations was first rate, the dis- nological phenomena; [3] Predator- March, the Secretary has sent per- cussions were dynamic and the over- sonal renewal reminders to affiliate prey interactions and consequences to all sense of community was strong. growth-survival: This session focused members that had not yet renewed at We were able to avoid having to deal the time. on research that aims to understand with concurrent sessions, which gave the interaction between larvae, their a chance for everyone to gain a bet- 1.2) Elections The secretary also co- prey and predators and their conse- ter perspective on a broad range of ordinated the election process for quences to changes in growth, mortal- topics. the President-elect and the Secretary- ity and survival; [4] Emerging threats elect positions. 90 out of 207 full to ELH stages and their consequences The 43rd Annual LFC will take place members participated to the election. to physiological processes: This ses- May 21-24 in Palma, Mallorca, Spain Results were: hosted by Ignacio Catalan (CSIC), Pa- sion included topics related to anthro- President-elect: Claire Paris was pogenic impacts, such as noise, ocean tricia Reglero (IEO) and Itziar Álvarez (IEO). elected by acclamation Secretary- acidification or micro-plastics; and [5] elect: Alison Deary won with 34 Application of ichthyoplankton data — Francis Juanes, Pierre Pepin and votes over Hannah Murphy (22 votes), to fisheries management: This session John Dower Simon Geist (18 votes) and Stuart brought together researchers from all Back to Contents Ludsin (16 votes) over the world to explore how ichthy- oplankton data may contribute to the 1.3) Grace Klein-MacPhee student management of ecosystems and fish- travel grants From 2018, undergradu- eries through the use of time series ate students were eligible to apply to and the identification of recruitment student travel grants. A total of 17 ap- bottlenecks. plications were received from 16 grad- uate students and 1 undergraduate There were also 2 pre-conference student. Travel grants were awarded workshops. The first was a one- to the 14 students who were members day larval identification workshop at the time of application. Grants of hosted by Alison Deary (NOAA, AK- $300 (n=12) and $500 (n=2) were FSC), Peter Konstantinidis (Oregon awarded to North American and In- State University), and Moira Galbraith ternational students, respectively. The paid dues through PayPal over the last 4) ELHS Time and Place Commit- total amount spent this year in travel year for a total net income of $450 tee Report grants was $4,600. (see income and PayPal fees below). The Committee has long sought to — Dominique Robert The current balance in the PayPal ac- identify potential LFC hosts to accom- count is $2,047. 2) ELHS Treasurer Report 2017- modate the following idealized, 4-yr 2018 I filed Form 990-N with the IRS in pattern of venue locations while in- June 2018 for tax year 2017. The sec- cluding opportunities for both stand- I oversaw the transactions in five ac- tion has to file this form to maintain alone LFCs and joint meetings with counts during 2017-2018. non-profit status. partnering societies (e.g., with AFS, There are four accounts at First Cit- The ELHS accounts are in good finan- JMIH). USA / North America east izens bank in North Carolina. They cial standing with a total balance of coast or Gulf of Mexico location USA / are: General Fund, Sally Richardson $46,000. North America or Gulf of Mexico non- Fund, Blaxter Fund, and Grace Klein- coastal location USA / North America MacPhee Fund. The debits and credits — Jeff Buckel west coast location International loca- to those accounts are summarized in 3) ELHS Newsletter Editors’ Re- tion (outside of North America) The financial reports below (Appendix 1). port location for 2019 (Palma de Mallorca, The balance in the General Fund ac- Stages, the ELHS newsletter, was pub- Spain) was accepted by the ExCom count dropped over the last year from lished in June and October 2017 - at LFC2017. An invite will be pre- $18k to 12k. Expenses over the 38(2 & 3), and February 2018 - 39(1). sented at the LFC2018. An offer for the LFC2020 (Mystic, CT, USA) was last year included LFC 2018 postcards Issue and date #full members ( $200), a new ELHS flag for Blaxter presented at the 2018 ELHS Business (affiliates) Meeting, vote on favorably by the ma- auction ( $500), the 2nd front money 38(2) May 28, 2017 202 (20) payment to LFC 2018 ( $3,200), a jority of business meeting attendants 38(3) Oct 19, 2017 209 (20) and accepted by ExCom. The Com- $500 donation to the Brazilian Ichthy- 39(1) Feb 23, 2018 241 (31) ology Meeting for student travel, and mittee has been in discussions with 14 student travel grants to the LFC There has been a steady and active additional candidate hosts for the out- 2018 meeting ($4,600). Once the LFC supply of content from the regional years that follow the above rotational 2018 front monies (total = $6,400) representatives, and from other sec- scheme for LFC venues. are returned, the General Fund bal- tion members throughout the past CONSIDERATION OF INTEREST IN ance will be $18k which is similar year, and we are grateful for their ef- JOINT MEETING WITH LARVAL BI- to last year’s balance. A portion of forts. We hope that this trend con- OLOGY SYMPOSIUM. The Commit- expenses was offset by 2017 dues pay- tinues! All regional representative tee has repeatedly been in contact ments ($3,030) collected by parent positions are filled. The secretary with past participants of the Larval society. The current balance in the provided the representatives with a Biology Symposium (LBS) about a fu- General Fund is $12,313. ELHS member list by regions. This ture joint meeting of LFC and LBS, made it much easier for the repre- The total monies raised through raf- which has long been discussed by sentatives to contact the members in the ELHS. The LBS had meeting bi- fles at LFC 2017 covered costs of pre- their region. STAGES started the ar- sentation awards. A total of $570 was ennially (even years) through 2012 ticle series ’highlighting larval fish but has not met since. It convened raised for the Blaxter fund and a to- collections around the world’. We tal of $506 was raised for the Sally (LBS XI) in August, 2017 in Hawaii welcome contributions for this se- (www.larvalbiology2017.org/). Si- Richardson fund. The current balance ries for upcoming issues. We would of Blaxter fund account is $9,168 and mon Geist attending the LBS XI and like to remind everyone to encour- stated the interest of the ELHS/LFC current balance of Sally Richardson age the use of Twitter and Facebook fund account is $15,415. The Grace in a future joint meeting. The LBS for communication about section ac- proposed to meet as a solo gather- Klein-MacPhee fund has a current bal- tivities and activities of section mem- ance of $7,325. This account is for ing in 2019 (offer by Dustin Mar- bers: @AFS_ELHS is the Twitter ac- shall, School of Biological Sciences, student travel though we continue to count, so please follow and post to it! use general funds to cover these costs. Monash University, Melbourne, Aus- www.facebook.com/earlylifehistory is tralia). Discussions during 2017-18 The account had no income over the ˘ the Facebook page âA¸Splease like it for possible ELHS hosts for such a last year and had a small expense ($9) and post to it! for statements. joint LFC-LBS meeting are ongoing — Audrey Geffen with Noelle Bowlin (SWFSC) and The fifth account is our PayPal ac- & Cindy van Damme Steve Litvin (MBARI). Proposed lo- count. Thirty-one affiliate members cations for a joint meeting are La of our highlights from this year are: Our section is in a good financial sit- Jolla/San Diego (Bowlin) and Mon- uation and membership is holding • Online survey moved from terey, California (Litvin). The LBS steady. Relevant action items to be SmartSurvey to GoogleForms point of contact is Steve Morgan, UC- reported or discussed at this business • —GoogleForms easier to edit Davis ([email protected]). meeting include: and to transfer to the next set Lastly, the Committee wants to grate- of Early Career chairs 7.1) ELHS Executive Committee, Of- fully acknowledge and thank John • Of the 2017 survey participants, ficers, and Regional Representatives Dower, Francis Juanes, Pierre Pepin 65% were full members (up The ExCom has four voting mem- and their team for hosting the from 53% last year) bers (President, Secretary, President- LFC2018. We all appreciate your ef- • Still uncertainty about the bene- elect and Secretary-elect). Other non- forts! fits of becoming a full member voting members include the Treasurer — Chris Chambers over affiliate member and Webmaster. Thanks to the elec- tions held within the past year, the 5) ELHS Historian Report • —53% of participants support a registration fee reduction to in- ExCom will remain at full capacity The paper archives of the ELHS are centivize meeting attendees to for the next two years. On behalf of maintained at the home residence of become full members the ELHS, I would like to thank the ELHS Historian Jeff Govoni, in Straits, • Finances was the primary rea- Secretary for once again supervising outside of Beaufort, NC. Relevant elec- son members could not attend a successful online election. Overall, tronic files are either transmitted to last yearâA˘Zs´ meeting the relatively recent transition of the the ELHS Webmaster for posting on • — 30% of participants felt the election duties from the former "Nom- the ELHS Website if appropriate, or 41st LFC was too big inations and Mail Ballot Committee" maintained as electronic files by the • ECC Workshop attendees to the office of Secretary has worked Historian. viewed these events as great well. The ELHS Web Page has become networking opportunities that It is worth noting that less than 45% an important, and easily accessi- are informative of voting-eligible ELHS members par- ble, source of historical information. • —to improve, attendees sug- ticipated in the last election. Further, Listed on this Web Page are: ELHS gested making workshops the office of President-Elect has been current and past Officers; past Annual longer and posting updates filled by acclamation for at least the Larval Fish Conferences; and the re- on multiple platforms past three election cycles. The ExCom cipients of ELHS Awards (the Sally L. • At the 42nd LFC, we facilitated would like to thank those who have Richardson Award, the J.H.S. Blaxter two early career workshops accepted nominations to run for of- Award, the E.H Ahlstrom Award, and • — 3-hour grant writing work- fice; win or lose, their willingness to the recently established Grace Klein- shop entitled "Demystifying the contribute to the ELHS is appreciated. MacPhee travel grants). The ELHS Proposal Process" led by Stu Further, the ExCom is open to sugges- Historian annually reviews this Web Ludsin (Ohio State University) tions for increasing the level of activ- Page to check on the status of relevant • — 1-day Larval Fish Identifica- ity from its membership, particularly information and updates. The ELHS tion Workshop led by Peter Kon- with respect to critical section activi- Historian finds that all relevant infor- stantinidis with additional ex- ties such as the election of officers. pertise from Ali Deary, Jeff Leis, mation is up to date, and commends Our newsletter STAGES is currently Tony Miskiewicz, and Moira Gal- current Web Master Klaus Huebert for supported by a full compliment of Re- braith his efforts. gional Representatives. On behalf of • Mentoring a graduate student Contact with the ELHS Historian can the ELHS, I thank each one for their (Kelsey Swieca; Oregon State be made through the following email service (the content of STAGES over University) awarded a NSF address: [email protected]. the past year has been excellent). Research Traineeship Program — Jeff Govoni, ELHS Historian who is helping us with the logis- Jeff Govoni has served as the ELHS 6) ELHS Early Career Committee tics to implement our two early Historian since 2004, and with his last (ECC) career events this year report he has also submitted his res- • Early Career Committee will be ignation, effective when a new Histo- This year, the ECC has been busy fa- looking for new co-chairs start- rian is named by the President. On cilitating two early career workshops, ing in 2019 behalf of the ELHS, the ExCom would updating the online platform for the like to thank Jeff for his many years of annual surveys, and collating the re- — Alison Deary, Marta Moyano service to the section [note: Jeff also sponses from last year’s survey. Some 7) ELHS President’s Report served as President-Elect (1996-1998) and President (1998-2000)]. quests for archived information. elected officers Claire Paris and Alison 7.2) ExCom Activities Several execu- Admittedly some of these duties have Deary as they assume the offices of tive actions were taken by the Presi- evolved over time, and the new His- President-Elect and Secretary-Elect, dent in consultation with the ExCom. torian should work closely with the respectively. The ExCom voted unanimously to Webmaster to curate relevant Section — Frank Hernandez accept the offer by Ignacio Catalan, materials. Patricia Reglero and Francisco Ale- 7.4.2 Social media. Klause Huebert many to host the 43rd Annual Larval has served as the ELHS webmaster Fish Conference in Palma de Mallorca, for the past several years, and has Balearic Islands, Spain. made a number of key improvements The ExCom revised the eligibility con- with regards to the quality of presen- ditions for the Grace Klein-MacPhee tation and content. More recently, student travel grants to include under- the ELHS has adopted additional so- graduate students, in response to the cial media platforms (Twitter, Face- recent trend of increased undergradu- book) that have been maintained by ate student attendance at the LFC. several different members. The Pres- ident and Secretary recommend co- The ExCom supported a request ordination among the various plat- ($500) by ELHS member Jana del forms be improved to ensure conti- Favero to sponsor student travel to the nuity and conformity of content, as biennial Brazilian Ichthyology Meet- well as timely updates in this time of ing, which will have a symposium on instant access of information. fish early life history. Dominique Robert has volunteered to The ExCom supported the costs as- serve as the ELHS Webmaster, and the sociated with printing ’save the date’ President accepts his offer. The Pres- reminders (postcards, flyers) for the ident thanks Dominique for his con- 2018 LFC. tinued service to the ELHS, and also The ExCom supported the purchase of thanks Klaus for advancing the sec- the new LFC flag (designed by Lee tion’s website considerably during his Fuiman), which we hope will con- tenure. The President encourages all tinue to be auctioned for many years members to support our website and to raise funds for the student Blaxter social media platforms by supplying Award. ELHS related content. 7.3 Old Business None The ExCom should seek 1-2 members 7.4 New Business to oversee the Facebook and Twitter accounts. Nominations are requested 7.4.1 ELHS Historian. As mentioned, at this business meeting. Jeff Govoni has submitted his resigna- tion as ELHS Historian. In doing so, 7.4.3 LFC attendance and extent of Jeff provided some information on the ELHS member participation. paper documents he currently curates, To be discussed. and has offered to advise the new His- 7.4.4 Benefits of Full ELHS torian as needed, once appointed by membership. the President. To be discussed 7.5 Installation of new As a reminder, according to the officers The outgoing President and ELHS Bylaws, the Historian: 1. col- Secretary would like to thank every- lects copies of all Section documents, one for their support and contribution newsletters, programs, publications, to the ELHS over the past few years. awards, publicity, and other items on As we step down from our respective Section activities of potential histori- offices, we would like to welcome cal interest and organizes and main- Pierre Pepin and Hannes Baumann as tains them in the Section Archives; they assume the offices of President and 2. responds to reasonable re- and Secretary, respectively, and newly AFS-EARLY LIFE HISTORY SECTION BUDGET (JULY 2017 - JUNE 2018) General Fund $ BALANCE (July 2017) 18,391.37 INCOME 2017 Membership Dues from AFS 3,030.00 TOTAL INCOME 3,030.00 EXPENSES New Blaxter Flag 508.37 LFC 2018 Postcards 230.52 LFC 2018 front money (2nd installment; Dec. 2017) 3,243.60 Wire transfer fee (LFC 2018 front money) 25 LFC 2018 Student travel awards 4,600 Donation to Brazilian Ichthyology Meeting for ELH student travel 500 TOTAL EXPENSES 9,107.49 BALANCE & INCOME - EXPENSES 12,313.88 ENDING BALANCE FOR THE GENERAL FUND AS OF June 20, 2018 12,313.88 ——————————– Sally Richardson Fund Beginning Balance (July 2017) 15,509.30 INCOME Income (LFC 2017 Raffle) 506.00 Total Income 506.00 EXPENSES Student award, lfc 2017 600.00 Total Expenses 600.00 BALANCE & INCOME - EXPENSES 15,415.30 ENDING BALANCE FOR THE SALLY RICHARDSON FUND AS OF June 20, 2018 15,415.30 ———————————– Blaxter Fund Beginning Balance (July 2017) 8,598.10 INCOME Income (LFC 2017 flag auction) 570.00 Total Income 570.00 EXPENSES None (award check not cashed) 0.00 Total Expenses 0.00 BALANCE & INCOME - EXPENSES 9,168.10 ENDING BALANCE FOR THE BLAXTER FUND AS OF June 20, 2018 9,168.10 ——————————– Grace Klein-MacPhee Fund Beginning Balance (July 2017) 7,334.00 INCOME No income 0.00 Total Income 0.00 EXPENSES Paper statement fee 9.00 Total Expenses 9.00 BALANCE & INCOME - EXPENSES 7,325.00 ENDING BALANCE FOR THE KLEIN-MACPHEE FUND AS OF June 20, 2018 7,325.00 —————————– PayPal Fund (dues payment account for affiliate members) Beginning Balance (July 2017) 1,608.41 INCOME Income ($15 dues payment by 31 affiliate members) 465.00 Total Income 465.00 EXPENSES PayPal fees 26.02 Total Expenses 26.02 BALANCE & INCOME - EXPENSES 2,047.39 ENDING BALANCE FOR THE PayPal account as of June 20, 2018 2,047.39 —————————————————————- Early Career Committee ple as designating a laptop for peo- extend a huge thank you to the con- ple to join while still at the confer- ference organizers for making these Alison Deary and ence or assigning a few individuals workshops possible. Thank you Drs. Marta Moyano to serve as membership liaisons to John Dower, Francis Juanes, and collect dues. Also, we talked about Pierre Pepin! giving the Section more visibility at In Spain, we hope to continue our Perspectives from the 42nd Annual AFS by providing regular contribu- commitment to early career develop- LFC post-conference survey tions to Fisheries, for example. Let ment with another short larval iden- us know if you want to help here! It is that time of the year again to tification clinic and a professional thank everyone for participating in skills workshop. We are planning on this year’s online survey! This was combining our next workshop with the first year that we offered a prize a discussion on scientific ethics. Al- to one lucky survey participant, which though very much still in develop- this year was a framed line drawing of ment, Marta and I are working with a larval macrourid from Puget Sound, a team of new early career co-chairs to combat the steady decline in partic- to plan events that are informative ipation. The incentive strategy seems and thought-provoking for our early to have worked and this year, 105 par- With this year’s conference over, it career researchers. Our expanded ticipants provided feedback, which is is now time to start thinking about ECC team now includes Kelsey Swieca, about twice as many participants as the 43rd Annual LFC, being hosted in Carolin Müller, Dr. Michael Sswat, last year. We would like to congratu- Palma, Spain. The dates have already Dr. Lysel Garavelli, and Dr. Han- late Dr. Richard Nash as our inaugural been set, May 21st - 24th, 2019. For nah Murphy. As always, thank you so winner of the prize; he will be receiv- next year’s professional development much for your dedication to the ELH ing his reward this fall. event, the top contenders are scien- Section and check out our Facebook page (@earlylifehistory) and Twitter About 58% of the survey participants tific writing, grant writing, career planning, and project management. account (@AFS_ELHS) for updates attended the 42nd Annual Larval Fish from our colleagues around the world. Conference in Victoria, BC, Canada. In Victoria, Dr. Stu Ludsin hosted a Of the 42% of you unable to attend grant writing workshop that was well this year’s meeting, money and time received by the participants (thank you again Stu!). The expectations of were cited as the primary reasons. Reflections from a new Early Lifer The 42nd LFC was the first LFC for ap- the participants were often exceeded proximately 40% of the participants. and they enjoyed the breakout dis- A primary objective of most scientific Half of the survey participants were cussion session, although they would conferences is to facilitate active en- senior researchers and of the 30% that have liked more time to dissect the gagement between researchers. The were students, over half are working material. hope is that these interactions would towards their PhD. As the Early Career lead to innovative ideas, future re- Committee, we try to broaden the au- This year was search avenues, and new or expanded dience of each professional develop- also the first collaborations. While each of these ment event to be appropriate for early year that the outcomes is beneficial to all confer- career researchers on either career tra- Early Career ence attendees, they may be particu- jectory, although these demographics Committee or- larly important for early career par- help us advise the mentors running ganized a Larval ticipants, like myself, who cannot yet each workshop. Word of mouth is still Fish Identifica- rely on an extensive publication track the primary way people are hearing tion Workshop record for recognition in the field. As about us, although ca. 21% of the in conjunction part of a National Science Foundation participants found out about our orga- with the confer- Research Traineeship, I was afforded nization using the website. ence hosted by the opportunity to attend the 2018 Dr. Peter Kon- Larval Fish Conference for the first On this year’s survey, more partici- time and pursue a professional devel- pants were not members of either AFS stantinidis. The lab space at the opment internship with the Early Ca- or ELHS. One recommendation that reer Committee (ECC) was discussed during the conference University of Vic- toria was a perfect venue from this ...continued next page was a way to streamline membership ECC cont. under Drs. Alison Deary at the conference. It may be as sim- identification clinic and we want to and Marta Moyano. Here, I share my atmosphere for professional relation- Upcoming Events thoughts on the meeting from an early ship building, one of the most useful career perspective with a particular fo- aspects of the 2018 Larval Fish Confer- PICES 2018 Annual Meeting in cus on how the (1) meeting size and ence were the early career workshops. Yokohama The Annual Meeting of (2) early career events shaped my ex- The ECC designed two workshops the North Pacific Marine Science Or- periences. explicitly geared towards the needs ganization (PICES) will be held in of early career participants - Larval Yokohama, Japan, from October 25 to Fish Identification and Proposal Writ- November 4, 2018. I expect that the ing. With highly sought after content, program will be posted on the website both workshops attracted many partic- quite soon. The hosts are looking for- ipants and proved to be valuable for ward to seeing any participants from my personal research. For me, it was the ELHS in Yokohama. PICES 2018 especially beneficial that these work- shops were held prior to the start of The 1st Brazilian Ichthyoplank- the conference as they allowed me to ton Symposium The 1st Brazil- meaningfully engage with my early ca- ian Ichthyoplankton Symposium, reer peers providing encouragement, first announced in the June excitement, and a sense of comradery 2018 issue of STAGES, now has for the start of the meeting. English pages on the website: http://www.ebi2019.com.br/. Please Based on my experiences, the 2018 keep checking the themes and scien- Networking is a considerable benefit Larval Fish Conference was not sim- tific program. If you have any ques- of attending scientific meetings and ply an avenue for me to present my tion or want to participate, please the 2018 Larval Fish Conference’s inti- research to other larval fish aficiona- contact the organizer: Dr. Jana M. del mate size promoted face-to-face com- dos, but an opportunity to build au- Favero ([email protected]). munication that helped me form and thentic research and professional re- deepen professional relationships. In lationships that are often vital for the Back to Contents my experience, official talks were, in success of early career researchers. some sense, just advertisements for Many thanks Drs. Alison Deary and more meaningful conversations that Marta Moyano for their support and often led to real education, practical guidance through my internship pro- advice (e.g., how do you excise the cess and to my conference funding gut of a 2-mm fish?), and informal sources - the National Science Foun- mentorship. While many conferences dation and the Grace Klein-MacPhee operate under the model of short talks Student Travel Grant. followed by personal inquiries, the — Kelsey Swieca, Graduate Student ease in identifying and locating in- Oregon State University, Corvallis, & dividuals in a smaller crowd made Hatfield Marine Science Center, this objective substantially more at- Newport, OR tainable. Frequent group breaks and social events were helpful in creating Back to Contents a space conducive to genuine and ca- sual conversation that further built on these relationships. When speaking to my peers, it is clear that graduate training often fails to teach the net- working skills necessary for compe- tence as a practicing professional in our field. The more relaxed nature of small conferences, like the Larval Fish Conference, provide an invaluable op- portunity for early career individuals to practice these ’soft skills’. In addition to creating a favorable Newsletter Production Team

Stages is published in February, June, and October each year. It is assembled by the Newsletter Editor with contributions from several Regional Representatives and other individuals. Please send any articles, announcements, or information of interest to Early Life History Section members or affiliates to your local Regional Representative or to the Editor Newsletter Editor Newsletter Editor Social Media Audrey J. Geffen Cindy J.G. van Damme Contact Dominique Robert Department of Biological Sciences Wageningen Marine Research if you have news University of Bergen for the section webpage: Norway The Netherlands earlylifehistory.fisheries.org [email protected] [email protected]

Northeast Region Southern Region North Central Region Katey Marancik Trika Gerard Ed Roseman NMFS, Northeast Fisheries Science Center NMFS, Southeast Fisheries Science Center USGS Great Lakes Science Center Narragansett, Rhode Island Miami, Florida Ann Arbor Michigan [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Western Region European Region Pacific Rim Region Daniel Margulies vacant Akinori Takasuka Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission National Research Institute of Fisheries Science LaJolla, California Yokohama, Japan [email protected] [email protected] Back to Contents

Editor’s Ramblings

This issue is packed with changes, as the section officers cycle into their new roles and a new cohort steps into place. Pierre has sent out his thanks, on behalf of all the ELHS, to members who have been quietly (or not so quietly) working away to keep the section running, and in good order. It’s good to be reminded of all the activity going on behind the scenes. We also say "Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish!" to several in the Newletter team: Hubert Keckeis will be handing over the reins of the regional representative for the European Region - and Catriona Clemmesen has agreed to have her name put forward for election as the replacement. Hopefully soon we will be saying "Welcome back, Catriona!". Todd Clardy has also handed over responsibility for the Twitter account, which we’ll all be contributing to for the time being. Thank you, Hubert and Todd, for your help in promoting ELHS activities and sharing news from your regions and the world. And in case you are wondering about your eyesight, or the display on your screen - there’s nothing wrong at your end. Yes, the format of Stages is another thing changing in this issue. We are exploring new production packages, but things should settle down in the next few issues. You can be sure that there will always be the iconic banner at the top of the newsletter - and that there will be plenty of news about early life history research going on around the world. Back to Contents