Volume 41, Number 1, March 2020 Headline News Audrey J. Geffen & Cindy J.G. van Damme, Editors Successful 43rd Annual Larval fish conference Inside This Issue. . . • Section Officers. . . • People. . . • News from the Regions. . . • Pacific Region. . . • North Central Region. . . • European Region. . . • Section Business. . . • Larval Fish Conference. . . • Early Career Committee. . . • Upcomming Events. . . • Newletter Production Team • Editors' Ramblings. . . The 43rd Annual Larval fish Conference, held in Mallorca from 21 to 24 of May is now over! We enjoyed the great science and social activities; seeing that the conference ELHS Back Then was successful makes the effort very worthwhile. The 5 years ago: ELHS Early Career Committee established attendance was great, with 137 contributions (68% orals) 10 years ago: Dr. William J. Richards (Bill Richards) was from 25 countries. Students were well represented, with the second recipient of the Early Life History Section El- 43 contributions, and the gender balance was 51% to bert H. Ahlstrom Career Achievement Award at the 2009 women! We enjoyed the "Larval Identification" and the LFC "Ethics in Scientific Writing" workshops, and the light- 15 years ago: Celebrating STAGES 25th anniversary! ning session worked really well. Thanks to all attendees, STAGES gets a facelift under the editor Lee Fuiman the conveners, the cool keynote speaker,the Early Career 25 years ago: Annual dues for newsletter subscribers in- Committee, the sponsors and the ELHS for the help! creases to 10 US dollars! The program and the website will be permanently stored 35 years ago: Term of Section President extended from 1 at IMEDEA at the address below, and will be shortly trans- year to 2 years. Bob Hoyt is first 2-year President ferred to the LFC website. See you soon! Deadline for material to be included in the next issue – Ignacio Catalán (IMEDEA), Patricia Reglero (IEO) and of STAGES: Itziar Álvarez (IEO) June 30, 2020 People Akinori Takasuka, PhD Professor Akinori Takasuka takes up Biology Laboratory Professorship at The University of Department of Aquatic Bioscience Tokyo Graduate School of Agricultural and Many of you will have noticed the Life Sciences change-of-address for one of our The University of Tokyo most active regional representatives 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8657, John H.S. Akinori Takasuka. As of April 2019 he Japan Blaxter became Professor of Fisheries Biology Tel.: +81-3-5841-5307; Fax: +81-3-5841-8165 J. H. S. Blaxter Student Poster Laboratory, moving from the Japan Award - 2019 Winners Fisheries Research and Education E-mail: [email protected] The winner of the best student poster Agency (FRA) to The University of at the 43rd LFC was Vanesa Raya for Tokyo. After 15 years at the FRA, he Website: http://katsuo.fs.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ her "Comparative study of the larval is back in the laboratory where he survival of two clupeoid species in studied for BSc., MSc., and PhD. He the northwestern Mediterranean Sea says he enjoyed working at FRA but based on a box-balance model". The is ready to focus now in the research addressed a very challenging education of junior fellows of the topic, combining field sampling with Fisheries Biology Laboratory. box modelling to understand how Professor Takasuka’s research topics hydrodynamic features may influence and interests will continue in the local mortality rates of larvae of small fields of fisheries biology, fisheries pelagics fishes. , and marine ecology. Stefania Russo received an honorable For the present he is living in mention for her "Characterization of Yokohama until his son finishes at his the larval habitat of tuna species in elementary school. After that, they the central Mediterranean Sea". The will all be moving to Tokyo, where he judges considered this to be one of welcomes us for meetings or private the best layouts and designs. The trips! poster was extremely well (and Congratulations and Best of Luck in enthusiastically) presented. the new position! Contact details: 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 Center, Seattle [email protected] [email protected]

Back to Contents News from the Regions

Pacific Region dition of larval Argentine Menhaden (Brevoortia pectinata) in the Patos Lagoon estuary and Adjacent coastal Akinori Takasuka zone (Fig. 4). The awards were given by the Early Life History Section - American Fisheries Society. Johan Hjort Symposium 2019 The Johan Hjort Sympo- sium 2019 "Challenging the scientific legacy of Fig. 2. Dr. Iain Suthers (Australia; co- Johan Hjort: Time for convenor) presenting his talk entitled a new paradigm in ma- "Fine-scaling Hjort and Dannevig in rine research?" was held in , time or space, for a seascape of low , during June 12-14, 2019. larval mortality, with the potential for In the symposium, the participants stock enhancement." Fig. 3. Main speakers of the 1st celebrated the 150-year anniversary Brazilian Ichthyoplankton Sympo- of Johan Hjort (1869-1948) and The 1st Brazilian Ichthyoplankton sium. Please note that there are two discussed insights in the past and Symposium known researchers for the Stages present with many interesting session The 1st Brazilian Ichthyoplankton readers, Dr. Akinori Takasuka and Dr. topics. This commemorable event Symposium was held in Belém, Pará Anthony Miskiewicz. was organized and convened by Drs. State, Brazil, on January 31, 2019. Olav Sigurd Kjesbu (IMR, Norway), The symposium was organized in Iain Suthers (UNSW, Australia), Jen- conjunction with the 23rd Brazilian nifer Hubbard (Ryerson University, Ichthyology Meeting (January 27-31). Canada), and Vera Schwach (NIFU, I was very happy to receive the invita- Norway). The opening keynote was tion to this memorable event for the given by Dr. (University early life biology in Brazil. Please see of Washington, USA). I am very hon- the report of the symposium by the ored to have one of the four keynote organizers, Drs. Claudia Namiki and talks for the session "Scientific legacy, Jana del Favero, for details: theories and study species." This event was also a venue for some members Inspired by the Larval Fish Confer- of the ELHS to see each other (Fig. ences, in January 2019 occurred the 1). Indeed, there were interesting 1st Brazilian Ichthyoplankton Sympo- talks related to early life biology sium. It was held in conjunction with (Fig. 2). Iain will report the sym- the 23rd Brazilian Ichthyology Meet- posium in a future issue of STAGES. ing in Belém, Pará State, Brazil. The Brazilian Ichthyology Meeting occurs Fig. 4. Dr Claudia Namiki and Dr every two years, and for the first time Jana del Favero given the student there was a symposium focusing on awards to Ruineris Almada Cajado fish larvae and eggs studies. More (best poster presentation) and Nathal- than 1,200 researches attended the lia Leite Alves Salvador (best oral meeting, and around 60 were at the communication). ichthyoplankton main talks (Fig. 3). A In the end, we honored Dr. Mario Kat- total of 40 posters and 12 oral commu- suragawa, a pioneer in ichthyoplank- nications about ichthyoplankton was ton studies in Brazil, who toasted us presented. with an inspiring speech. Hopefully, The best presentation awards were this was the first symposium of many Fig. 1. Some members of the ELHS given to Ruineris Almada Cajado, others that will come in the future. got together during the Johan Hjort which poster presentation was about — Claudia Namiki and Jana del symposium in Bergen (June 12-14, the composition and distribution of Favero (organizers) 2019). From left to right: Iain fish eggs and larvae in the Amazonas Suthers (Australia; co-convenor), River, and to Nathallia Leite Alves Sal- Back to Contents Catriona Clemmesen (Germany), vador, who presented about the envi- Arild Folkvord (Norway), and ronmental variability and body con- Akinori Takasuka (Japan). North Central Region munity. Measured spatio-temporal larval movements using the ELCOM- abundances of larval fish w ill con- CAEDYM hydrodynamic model for tribute to a three-dimensional Estuary Lake St. Clair, identify spawning ar- Ed Roseman and Lake and Coastal Ocean Model - eas, estimate larval production, esti- Large-Scale Early Computation Aquatic Ecosystem mate export to the Detroit River and Life History Survey Dynamics Model (ELCOM-CAEDYM) Lake Erie, and model yellow perch Planned for Lake Erie developed by Dr. Zhao to predict growth and survival. Catches of lar- Since 2002, environ- larval dispersal and, examine the re- val yellow perch were high in 2018, often in the thousands of larvae per mental organizations lationships between productivity and 5-minute sample, and often highest from the United States abundance estimates currently de- near river mouths and along the Cana- and Canada have rived from the Lake Erie Management dian shoreline. Clara Lloyd, an un- teamed up each year to assess condi- Unit's young-of-the-year (YOY) index dergraduate student technician from tions in one of the five Great Lakes. programs. Due to their eco-nomic and Paul Smith s College in upstate This program is called the Coopera- ecological importance, key species of ' New York, under the advisement of tive Science and Monitoring Initiative concern for Lake Erie's fisheries Dr. Celia Evans, is using some of the (see CSMI). As part of the 2019 CSMI managers include walleye (Sander results of this study for her senior the- year for Lake Erie, a large-scale collab- vitreum), yellow perch (Perca sis. orative larval fish survey is planned. flavescens), lake whitefish (Core- gonus clupeaformis), and rainbow Objectives of the one-year intensive — Andrew Ransom and Lydia Doerr, effort include the identification of smelt (Osmerus mordax). This lake- M.S. Candidates (PI Dr. Patrick S. productivity from various habitats wide effort will expand and contribute Forsythe and Dr. Chris Houghton) and stocks to the fisheries in Lake Erie complementary data to previous and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, (including the St. Clair-Detroit River ongoing larval fish a nd h abitat sur- Aquatic Ecology and Fisheries System and the Upper Niagara River) veys completed in the St. Clair and Laboratory and what habitat components limit Detroit Rivers, Lake St. Clair, and Lake Erie. productivity. These objectives were Tracking Great Lakes changes identified as priority questions that agencies should attempt to address From GLERL - We are comparing nu- in the 2019 CSMI intensive sampling trients, larval diets, densities, condi- year by the Lake Erie Partnership Man- tion, species composition, zooplank- agement Committee. The research ton prey density and light conditions team consists of Dr. Stephen Markle- in Lake Michigan between 1983, be- vitz from the Lake Erie Management fore the invasive predaceous clado- Unit, Ontario Ministry of Natural Re- ceran Bythotrephes and quagga and sources and Forestry; Dr. Yingming zebra mussels invaded the lake, and Zhao, Research Scientist from the after those invasive species invaded Aquatic Research and Monitoring Sec- (2010-2015) to see how the larval fish tion, Ontario Ministry of Natural Re- community has changed over time. sources and Forestry; Dr. Ed Roseman Offshore densities of larvae and zoo- from the Great Lakes Science Center, Fig. 1. Larval yellow perch cap- plankton are lower now than in 1983 United States Geological Survey; Drs. tured during sampling in the St. Clair- (reported by Nash and Geffen 1991), Christine Mayer and Robin DeBruyne Detroit River System in 2018. and are most abundant in the metal- imnion and upper hypolimmnion. In from Lake Erie Center, University of Part of the 2019 CSMI work will in- 1983, larvae were most abundant in Toledo; Travis Hartman from the Di- clude a second intensive survey of the upper meter of the water column. vision of Wildlife, Ohio Department larval fish o n L ake S t. C lair t o ex- Water clarity has increased dramati- of Natural Resources; and Dr. Dimitry amine dynamics of yellow perch lar- cally owing to invasive mussel filtra- Gorsky from the Lower Great Lakes vae. In 2018, Ed Roseman s team ' tion and reduced nutrient loads, and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, from the U.S. Geological Survey s ' when combined with high densities of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Efforts Great Lakes Science Center, partnered the Bythotrephes, may be limiting lar- will be made to standardize sampling with staff from Michigan Department vae and their prey to deeper, darker and sample processing across field of Natural Resources Lake St. Clair waters. ...continued next page and laboratory teams. Data and infor- Fisheries Research Station, Ontario mation obtained from the systematic Ministry of Natural Resources and broad scale community-level larval Forestry, and Department of Fisheries fish survey across the Lake Erie will and Oceans Canada to establish a lake- be used to produce distribution maps wide sample strategy using paired of larval fish to aid in the identifica- bongo samplers to measure larval den- tion of critical spawning and nursery sities and distribution. Data from habitats of the Lake Erie fish com- the survey will be used to model North Central cont... herring were co-reared with hybrids NextGen - Potential for multiGEN- of Atlantic and Baltic herring over erational acclimation of fishes to three years at two nominal salinities, global changes before the new crossings took place The rate and scale of climate changes and viable larvae could be reared have already resulted in consequences at 6, 16 and 35 psu salinity. The for marine ecosystems. Yet, evolu- work is part of a Norwegian Research tionary responses may help marine Council project GENSINC, which aims species counter stressful conditions. at elucidating the genetic basis of The question is can they respond fast We are using MOCNESS to more effi- adaptations of herring populations to ciently sample larval fish and Mysis at enough? Empirical evidence is accu- given environmental conditions. We mulating that marine species might be depth. It also appears that catches have long realized that the genera- of larval fish and Mysis are higher able to adapt to rapid environmental tion time in these experiments are change if they have sufficient standing in MOCNESS than in traditional nets not optimized for high publication used to sample these gears. genetic variation and/or phenotypic output, but papers from the exper- plasticity to mount fast responses. We are estimating densities, growth iment are finally coming out (Berg and survival of native whitefish larvae et al. 2018 a,b). Still working on in Lake Huron in areas of high and low the data from the first experiment nutrient loads. Given recruitment of we have initiated another (hopefully) whitefish has declined in many areas three-year rearing experiment this with low productivity that are asso- year with purebred local Norwegian ciated with high densities of invasive spring spawners and hybrids of spring quagga mussels, we hypothesized that and autumn spawners. The latter Phenotypic plasticity, whether within the recruitment bottleneck occurred crosses were made possible by us- a generation (developmental) or in the larval stage and was caused by ing cryopreserved sperm of autumn across generations (transgenera- low growth rate leading to poor sur- spawners together with newly caught tional), may be a particularly effective vival. Contrary to expectations, we spring spawning females. If all goes mechanism that can buffer popula- found that larval whitefish densities well, we should have more to report, tions against immediate impacts of and growth rates were lower in high after couple of more years.... global change and provide time for nutrient loading areas, but their ap- genetic adaptation to catch up. Here parent survival was higher, perhaps we aim at investigating whether de- owing to higher turbidity that may re- velopmental and transgenerational duce predator search volumes. exposure can improve fish species' — Ed Rutherford, NOAA Great Lakes resilience to future global changes. Environmental Research Laboratory The focus will be on the phenotypic [email protected] variation in reproduction, growth, Back to Contents Juvenile reared herring. Which ones condition, behaviour and aerobic are purebred Atlantic herring and metabolism. We will be using the two- which ones a hybrid Atlantic x Baltic spotted goby, Gobiusculus flavescens, European Region herring? (photo. A. Folkvord). as a model species. Learn more about what we do at our lab page: Catriona Clemmesen amfaria.comand our facebook page: References www.facebook.com/Amfarialab/ For Research in the Berg F, Almeland OW, Skadal J, Slotte any further questions, please contact slow lane multi A, Andersson L, Folkvord A (2018a) : - me at [email protected]! generation Biological and otolith shape data for — Ana Lopez, ISPA experiments on a parental generation and their subse- herring project quent F1-generation of Atlantic/Baltic GENSINC herring. PLoS ONE 13: e0190995 doi Back to Contents After three years of 10.1371/journal.pone.0190995 rearing from eggs we finally managed to close the life Berg F, Slotte A, Andersson L, cycle of Atlantic herring from fertil- Folkvord A (2018b) Genetic origin ization to maturation and subsequent and salinity history influence re- production of F2 offspring in 2016. productive success of Atlantic her- The parents were spring spawners ring. Mar Ecol Prog Ser doi of local Norwegian Atlantic herring 10.3354/meps12680 and Baltic spring spawning herring provided by Prof. Leif Andersson from — prof. Arild Folkvord, University of Uppsala University. Purebred Atlantic Bergen & Dr Florian Berg, Institute for Marine Research Section Business Don’t forget to pay your dues, or you will miss out on the next issue of STAGES! Early Career Committee Larval Fish Conference Alison Deary and Marta Moyano 44th Annual Larval Fish Conference - Mystic, CT The 2020 Larval Fish Conference is happening soon!! Perspectives from the 43rd Annual LFC post-conference survey Check the websites and submit your abstract next week! The ECC would like to thank everyone for participating in the 2019 online survey! We had 110 participants complete the survey and provide valuable feedback. Like last year, we offered a prize as an incentive to fill out the survey. This year’s prize was a painting of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia signed by the artist. The winner is Janelle Alleman. Just over half of the survey respondents were Senior Re- searchers (52% ), and of the 18% survey respondents who were graduate students, 60% were in a PhD program. For 34 The 44th Annual Larval Fish Conference (LFC) will be The ECC organized two events this year: a lightning ses- held from June 21-26, 2020 in Mystic, CT (USA). This sion (3-min talks) on Science Communication, and a Pro- year’s conference is jointly organized by local members fessional Development Workshop on Ethics in Scientific from the University of Connecticut, University of Rhode Is- Writing. We want to extend our thanks to Nadine Strydom land, Mystic Aquarium and the National Marine Fisheries for organizing and leading the workshop on ethics. We Service. Scientific steering committee received constructive feedback on both of these ECC-run Hannes Baumann, Chair University of Connecticut events. Feedback included making sure that the Poster Ses- sion and the Lightning talks do not overlap in the future Eric Schultz University of Connecticut and to encourage Senior Scientists to attend the workshop Jackie Webb University of Rhode Island in order to contribute their experiences to the topic. Paul Anderson Mystic Aquarium It's time to be thinking about the 44th Annual LFC in Mystic, Connecticut! The dates for this conference are June Jon Hare NEFSC-NOAA 21 - 26 2020. The website is now live, so please check it The deadline for abstract submission is March 15! out for updates lfc44.uconn.edu. The ECC is looking Do not miss the opportunity attending a great conference! forward to organizing another session of the Lightning Talks as well as a Professional Development Workshop. Theme session 1: Long-term ichthyoplankton data: in- The topic for the Lightning session, based on the survey sights and challenges results, will be "Lessons learned in research". We are in A number of long-term ichthyoplankton programs have discussion with two mentors for the Professional routinely sampled over broad timespans, in some cases Development Workshop and we will be announcing the extending over multiple decades. In total, these programs topic for this event soon. have sampled a diversity of habitats including freshwater, Thank you for your dedication and interest in the ELH sec- estuarine and marine ecosystems, and they vary in their tion! Check out our Facebook page (Early Life History) and purpose and design. The data and sample archives that Twitter account (@AFS_ELHS) for updates on colleagues these programs generate can be used in fresh directions of and ELH research. The ECC section encourages Senior inquiry, such as elucidating the effects of changing climate Scientists to participate as either presenters/contributors on freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems. What or attendees at ECC-run events. have we learned about temporal change in physical forc- ing, fish populations, assemblages and ecosystems from — The Early Career Committee: Lysel Garavelli, Carolin long-term ichthyoplankton sampling? What challenges MÃijller, Hannah Murphy, Michael Sswat, Kelsey Swieca, arise in analysis and interpretation when the sampling and Jessica Randall was designed for a specific purpose, or for no particular purpose, or analyzed using a new approach or technique? ...continued next page LFC44 (Theme session 1) cont... What are best practices in sample preservation and data Theme session 4: Sensory biology and behavior of fish archiving, and how widespread are they? This theme larvae session is envisioned to inspire future uses of existing sampling programs and to direct attention to design of The survival of fish larvae is dependent up on their ability long-term programs so that their potential for applicability to detect prey, avoid predators, navigate the open ocean and discovery is maximized. and find settlement sites. Papers in this session will discuss Session chairs: Eric Schultz, Jon Hare larval fish behaviors, the sensory basis for such behaviors Keynote speaker: Su Sponaugle (e.g., vision, smell, taste, hearing, flow sensing), and their ecological consequences for fish populations and fish Theme session 2: Sensitivity of fish early life stages to communities. combined climate change stressors Session chairs: Jacqueline Webb Anthropogenic climate change increasingly perturbs both Keynote speaker: Peter Buston freshwater and marine environments, but how exactly predicted changes in temperature, acidity, oxygen content Theme session 5: Form, function, and ecology of fish and other conditions will affect the fitness of fish early larvae life stages remains an active, vibrant field of investiga- tion. This session invites a broad range of contributions This theme session invites novel contributions to our that use experimental, field and modeling approaches basic understanding of larval fish morphology, feeding, to elucidate the potential effects of climate change on metabolism, growth, and predator-prey interactions. It fish early life stages. We welcome mechanistic studies also welcomes studies addressing the connectivity of fish on the organismal, molecular or population levels and populations via larval dispersal, drift, and settlement encourage contributions from both marine and freshwater mechanisms. habitats. Field studies, concept and synthesis approaches Session chairs: Alison Deary, Peter Konstantinidis are particularly welcome, as are studies that try to shed light on the potential for acclimation and adaptation Theme session 6: Fish early life growth, mortality and of fish early life stages to their changing environments. characteristics of survivors: do they tell us why fish While no single experiment or study allows predicting the populations vary? fate of future populations, sustaining the accumulation Since Johann Hjort hypothesized more than a century ago and interpretation of empirical evidence is of utmost that fish early life stages hold the key to understanding the importance to improving predictions of future changes in fluctuations of fish populations, the quest to find environ- species productivity and ecosystems. mental predictors to larval fish survival and subsequent Session chairs: Hannes Baumann, Claire Paris recruitment has continued unabated. This theme session Keynote speaker: Philip Munday invites novel contributions to the link between growth and mortality in larval fish, environmental predictors of Theme session 3: Marine ornamental en- recruitment success in commercial and model fish popula- ables discovery in larval fish biology tions, and improved understanding of predation dynamics Scientists conducting laboratory studies of live larval controlling larval fish populations. Experimental, field, fishes may be stymied by the technical challenges in- and modeling approaches are welcome, because progress volved in their aquaculture. The successful aquaculture will likely come from integrating all these investigative operation usually requires successful long-term operations angles. in not only larval fish aquaculture, but also in broodstock Session chairs: Dominique Robert, Akinori Takasuka conditioning, and phyto- and zoo-plankton aquaculture. The field of marine ornamental aquaculture, aiming to If your contribution does not fit any of the theme ses- provide a sustainable alternative source for some of the sions, contributed papers are also welcome! Submit your 2,000 species of marine fish traded in the U.S. marine contributed abstracts to the "form and function" theme aquarium trade, is still in its infancy but has recently session, and organizers will schedule your presentation at made significant technical advancements that has fueled the right place within the conference agenda. a fledgling industry in commercial marine ornamental For programmatic questions, please contact: Hannes Bau- aquaculture as a celebrated facet of the trade. Larval fish mann [email protected] +1 (860) 405-9297 biologists can gain from the insights learned in this field to foster a successful laboratory research program studying For registration questions, please contact: University live larval fishes. Conversely, the field (and industry!) of Events and Conference Services +1 (860) 486-1038 marine ornamental aquaculture is poised to grow and diversify from the contributions that larval fish biologists Back to Contents can contribute on topics of larval fish biology (e.g., feed- ing behavior; development of digestive, immune, and sensory systems; nutrition). Session chairs: Paul Anderson Keynote speaker: Andrew Rhyne Upcoming Events please visit https://sites.google.com/view/larval-fish- cours or contact Nalani Schnell [email protected]. International Larval Fish Course 2020 at the marine Places are limited to 15 participants, course registration station of the Mus um national d’Histoire naturelle e fee is 850 per person, registration closes 30th June (MNHN) in Concarneau, France € 2020 After our first successful European based Larval Fish Course in 2018 we will offer this course again at the marine station of the Museum national d’Histoire na- turelle in Concarneau, France, from the 28th September to 9th October 2020. The course will cover lectures and labs on pre-identified larval material from the Eastern North Atlantic and labs on our unsorted and unidentified museums larval fish collection from the Indo-Pacific. We aim to sort and catalog the latter collection and there- with provide a unique training for participants in how to sort, identify and curate such an unsorted sample. Fur- ther, the course will include lectures on the following topics "What do larvae feed on, and how do they feed, match-mismatch theory", "Physical processes, environmen- tal factors", "Age and growth", "Cohorts, recruitment", "Climate change", "Sampling and preservation methods", "Fish egg identification, key identification features, rele- vant literature and available resources", "Computer iden- tification keys", and, of course, lectures and labs on lar- val fish identification (about 50 fish families! for fur- ther details visit https://sites.google.com/view/larval-fish- course/syllabus). The course is spearheaded by the collection curator of the MNHN Nalani Schnell and Cyril Gallut and featured by three experts in larval fish taxonomy and ecology from across the globe: Catriona Clemmesen (GEOMAR, Germany), Cindy Van Damme (Wageningen Back to Contents Marine Re-search, Netherlands), Peter Konstantinidis (Oregon State University, USA). For further information and registration Newsletter Production Team

Stages is published in February, June, and October each year. It is assembled by the Newsletter Editors 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 Editors 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 Catriona Clemmesen Akinori Takasuka Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission GEOMAR, University of Kiel University of Tokyo LaJolla, California Kiel, Germany Tokyo, Japan [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Back to Contents

Editors' Ramblings

Time flies, and its hard to believe that six months have flown by since we first sat down to put this issue together. Unfortunately we’ve both been overcome by different distractions (health, work, family, students, etc.) and haven’t kept up with our editorial responsibilities. Volume 40 closed with only one issue. Sincere apologies to all the ELHS members, and especially to those of you who have sent reports in to share with the section. Here they are at last - and still timely. So, for this start of volume 41, you will find a few things missing. We have not been able to wrap up the 2019 LFC with the usual report of prize winners, flag champions, and business reports - for various reasons. Hopefully these can be access through the section website at some point in the future. We DO have exciting reports from various regions, and hopefully the list of theme sessions and keynote speakers will entice you all to the upcoming LFC at the end of June. The program has so much to offer, and it will certainly be a great meeting.

Don’t forget the early bird registration deadline for the LFC in Mystic (end of April)! — Cindy & Audrey Back to Contents