Variability in the reproductive output of spring-spawning herring in the north-west Atlantic

• Published in: ICES Journal of Marine Science
• Main Authors: Winters, G. H., Wheeler, J. P., Stansbury, D.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1993
• Subjects: Articles; North West Atlantic
• Online Access: http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/50/1/15; https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1993.1003

Data from five spring-spawning herring stocks in the north-west Atlantic were analysed to test the effects of winter sea temperature and stock biomass on total reproductive output (i.e. ovary weight) and its constituent parts, egg size and fecundity. Annual variations in fecundity and ovary weight were best accounted for by overwintering temperatures 2–3 months prior to spawning and a density-dependent response to biomass changes. Further, annual variation in total reproductive output was much less than its constituent parts and was expressed as a non-linear trade-off between fecundity and egg size. Information available from the published literature suggests that this conservatism in reproductive output is a universal trait of herring stocks and acts to maximize efficiently larval survival under a wide range of environmental conditions.