Abstract
Larval fish growth and survival depends not only on prey quantity, but also on prey quality. To investigate effects of prey fatty acid concentration on larval herring growth, we collected different prey organisms and larval herring (Clupea harengus L.) in the Kiel Canal during the spring season of 2009. Along with biotic background data, we analysed fatty acids both in prey organisms and in the larvae and used biochemically derived growth rates of the larvae as the response variable. Larval herring reached their highest RNA/DNA derived growth rates only at high docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) concentration. When the ratio of copepodids to lesser quality cirriped nauplii was low, larval growth and larval DHA concentration were both significantly negatively affected. This was true even as prey abundance was increasing. This finding indicates that even in mixed, natural feeding conditions, growth variations are associated with DHA availability in larval fish.
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Acknowledgments
The authors want to thank Helgi Mempel, Bettina Oppermann and Julia Haafke for explaining analytical methods and measuring CHN. Thanks also to the research vessel crew Holger Meyer and Helmut Schramm for their help during sampling. We would also like to thank Dr. Karin Boos for creating Fig. 1 and Luke Phelps for improving the language of the text. Furthermore, thank you to Myron Peck and two unknown reviewers for helping to significantly improve the manuscript. The research was partly financed and conducted as part of the Fehmarn Belt Science Provision Project. Part of the study was funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG) in the AQUASHIFT priority program 520 1164 (“RECONN”) with a grant awarded to Catriona Clemmesen.
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Communicated by M. A. Peck.
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Paulsen, M., Clemmesen, C. & Malzahn, A.M. Essential fatty acid (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA) availability affects growth of larval herring in the field. Mar Biol 161, 239–244 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2313-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2313-6