Effects of nursery environmental cycles on larval red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) growth and survival

• Main Authors: Endocrine Function, Rafael Pérez-domínguez, Joan, G. Holt
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: KEY WORDS; red drum; settlement; recruitment; temperature; dissolved oxygen; Red drum; Sciaenops ocellatus
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.525.3297; http://water.usgs.gov/wrri/01grants/prog-compl-reports/2001TX3261B.pdf

SUMMARY: Red drum early larval stages migrate through coastal inlets and settle into shallow seagrass meadows within estuaries. This study describes environmental rhythms (ER) in red drum nursery habitats and evaluates their role in larval growth. Well-defined diel ER were observed in temperature (amplitude: 2 to 4.5ºC) and dissolved oxygen (DO) (range: 2.9-7.5 mg O2 L-1), and sporadic cooling caused by cold fronts. We exposed groups of settlement sized larvae (4.9 mm standard length) to two oscillating temperature treatments (amplitudes: 3 and 6ºC; daily mean 27ºC), an oscillating DO treatment (range: 2.4-6.1 mg O2 L-1; daily mean 4.2 mg O2 L-1) and a control (no cycles; daily mean