Table 2.— Growth of larval gulf and Atlantic menhadens from time 

 of first feeding to age 21 d at 20°C. 



'Number of samples; about 10 fish per sample. 

 2 SL (mm) = a x exp b (age in d). 



tuating environment producing more reproductive 

 uncertainty (Murphy 1968; Stearns 1976). This in- 

 formation suggests to us that the subtle differences 

 we observed may indicate a fine tuning of reproduc- 

 tive strategies that allow these menhadens to per- 

 sist in their particular environments. A more rigor- 

 ous comparative study is required before we can 

 understand how menhaden life history character- 

 istics are adapted to their particular environments. 

 Such a study is presently underway by the senior 

 author. 



Table 3.— The survival (%) of first-feeding gulf menhaden larvae 

 deprived of food (starved) in relation to temperature. The fed treat- 

 ment represents the control group. 



feeding or high mortalities will occur; whereas at 

 18 °C they can survive without food for 5 d without 

 incurring high mortalities (Table 3). The gulf men- 

 haden's response to starvation in relation to tem- 

 perature is comparable to numerous temperate zone, 

 pelagic fish larvae (McGurk 1984). 



In conclusion, although temperature is an impor- 

 tant factor in controlling the development of marine 

 fish larvae (Blaxter 1970), we observe that temper- 

 ature was not a determinant of size at hatching, size 

 at first feeding, and yolk volume remaining at first 

 feeding. These data suggest that age is not a good 

 correlate of these developmental events. On the 

 other hand, temperature had an effect on the rate 

 of yolk utilization, the time between hatching and 

 exogenous feeding, and the ability of larvae to with- 

 stand the deprivation of food. 



Our observations, although limited by a lack of 

 rigorous statistical testing, suggest that, relative to 

 gulf menhaden, Atlantic menhaden produced larger 

 eggs, were larger at hatching, were larger and 

 younger at time of first feeding, and appeared to 

 maintain a larger size throughout the early larval 

 period. We tried to interpret these differences in the 

 context of their entire life history. Relative to gulf 

 menhaden, Atlantic menhaden exhibit life history 

 traits (later maturity, longer life, and more repro- 

 ductive years) that may be adapted to a more flue- 



Acknowledgments 



Sincere appreciation is extended to J. Govoni, D. 

 Peters, and two anonymous reviewers for their 

 critical review of the manuscript. W. Hettler and 

 C. Lewis provided technical support during various 

 phases of the study. This research was supported 

 by a contract from the Ocean Assessments Division, 

 National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and At- 

 mospheric Administration. 



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