FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 83, NO. 3 



>- 



O 



2 



O 



X 



u 



< 

 CD 



4- 



BEGINNING 



END 



BREEDING SEASON 



Figure 6. -Three hypothetical relationships between batch fecun- 

 dity and time of the breeding season that have empirical support in 

 the literature. A) Constant batch fecundity. B) Batch fecundity 

 maximal during the middle of the breeding season. C) Batch fecun- 

 dity maximal at the beginning of the breeding season and declining 

 continuously thereafter. 



strongly size- selective in M. menidia (Conover and 

 Ross 1982; Conover 1984): the largest young-of-the- 

 year have the highest probability of surviving. 

 Hence, there should be selection pressure to breed as 

 early in the spring as physical conditions (such as 

 temperature) permit, and perhaps before conditions 

 are optimal. Any offspring that managed to survive 

 early in the breeding season will ultimately benefit 

 from having a longer growing season. Conversely, 

 towards the end of the breeding season, energy 

 placed into reproduction becomes wasted because 

 these offspring will have almost no chance of grow- 

 ing to a size that will permit winter survival. It 

 follows that somewhere in the middle of the breeding 

 season will be the optimal period for reproduction. 

 Declining batch fecundity during the breeding 

 season (curve C) has been reported for a population 

 of the common mummichog, Funduhis heteroclitus, 

 where batch fecundity was greatest at the beginning 

 of the breeding season and became progressively less 

 thereafter (Kneib and Stiven 1978). A continuous 

 decline in batch fecundity may evolve when the value 

 of putting energy into current reproduction, as op- 

 posed to somatic growth, declines continuously as 

 the breeding season progresses. Although few data 

 are now available for comparing the subseasonal pat- 

 terns of batch fecundity in multiple spawning fishes, 

 such information may eventually prove useful in 



understanding the general reproductive strategies of 

 fishes. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I thank the staff of the University of Massachu- 

 setts Marine Station for logistic support. D. 

 Chevalier assisted in maintaining the laboratory fish 

 and in counting eggs. F. Sutter helped with field 

 sampling. The comments of two anonymous 

 reviewers improved the clarity of the manuscript. 

 During part of the this study, I received support 

 from the Massachusetts Cooperative Fishery 

 Research Unit, which is jointly funded by the 

 Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, the 

 Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife, the 

 University of Massachusetts, and the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Bagenal, T. B. 



1967. A short review of fish fecundity. In S. D. Gerking 



(editor), The biological basis of freshwater fish production, p. 



89-111. Blackwell Sci. Publ., Oxf., Engl. 

 Bagenal, T. B., and E. Braum. 



1971. Eggs and early life history. In W. E. Ricker (editor), 



Methods for assessment of fish production in fresh waters, p. 



166-198. IBP (Int. Biol. Programme) Handb. 3, 2d ed.; 



Blackwell Sci. Publ., Oxf., Engl. 

 Baggerman, B. 



1980. Photoperiodic and endogenous control of the annual 

 reproductive cycle in teleost fishes. In M. A. Ali (editor). 

 Environmental physiology of fishes, p. 533-567. Plenum 

 Press, N.Y. 



Ball, J. N. 



1960. Reproduction in female bony fishes. Symp. Zool. See. 

 Lond. 1:105-135. 

 Bayliff, W. H., Jr 



1950. The life history of the silverside Menidia menidia 

 (Linnaeus). Chesapeake Biol. Lab. Publ. 90, 27 p. 

 Clark, F. N. 



1925. The life history of Leuresthes tenuis, an atherine fish 

 with tide controlled spawning habits. Calif. Fish Game 

 Comm., Fish Bull. 10, 51 p. 

 Conover, D. 0. 



1984. Adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex 

 determination in a fish. Am. Nat. 123:297-313. 

 Conover, D. 0., and B. E. Kynard. 



1984. Field and laboratory observations of spawning periodi- 

 city and behavior of a northern population of the Atlantic 

 silverside, Menidia menidia (Pisces: Atherinidae). Environ. 

 Biol. Fishes 11:161-171. 

 Conover, D. 0., and S. A. Murawski. 



1982. Offshore winter migration of the Atlantic silverside, 

 Menidia menidia. Fish. Bull., U.S. 80:145-150. 

 Conover, D. 0., and M. R. Ross. 



1982. Patterns in seasonal abundance, growth and biomass of 

 the Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia, in a New England 

 estuary. B^stuaries 5:275-286. 

 DeMartini, E. E., and R. K. Fountain. 



1981. Ovarian cycling frequency and batch fecundity in the 



340 



