Comparative impacts of temperature and trade-offs on egg ecology of north Atlantic pelagic fish species

The early life history stages of fish are considered the most vulnerable and can be strongly affected by environmental variability, leading to population fluctuations. Temperature has a major role on development and mortality rates, with consequences for recruitment and overall stock productivity. We collated development and survival data from publications on laboratory egg incubation experiments to investigate and compare the development, daily mortality and survival of fish eggs from pelagic species in the north Atlantic at different temperatures, and to investigate whether trade-offs exist between these traits at the population and species level and between habitat types (pelagic and demersal).

While differing in magnitude, the response of these traits exhibited similar trends with respect to temperature, regardless of species, population or habitat type. A trade-off appears between rapid development and high mortality or slow development and low mortality, resulting in similar survivorship percentages across species.

These results quantify physiological effects of temperature on the eggs and are a major factor in yielding a close correspondence between the physiological optimum temperature for survivorship and observed temperature at spawning sites. Temperature during egg development may be a key evolutionary force affecting spawning time and location