Gadomski and Caddell; Effect of temperature on egg development and survival 



47 



The temperature range over which eggs hatched 

 was at least eight degrees for fantail sole, white 

 croaker, and California halibut, and possibly more if 

 range endpoints fell outside the extreme tempera- 

 tures survived. An eight-degree range is typical of 

 other species such as English sole, Pleuronectes 

 vetulus, Dover sole, and cod ( Alderdice and Forrester, 

 1968; Irvin, 1974; Fonds, 1979; Thompson and Riley, 

 1981). Eggs of fantail sole might have tolerated the 

 highest temperature tested (28°C), if we had been 

 able to induce spawning during the more natural 

 summer-fall season instead of winter (Table 1 ). How- 

 ever, sole brood stock were held at a warmer tem- 

 perature ( 18.5°C) typical of their spawning season. 



Barred sand bass hatched at a much wider range 

 of temperatures, 12-28°C, although at 12°C embryos 

 were not viable. The adaptive significance of the 

 wider temperature tolerance of barred sand bass is 

 not readily apparent. Field-collected barred sand bass 

 larvae cannot be separated from larvae of two simi- 

 lar sea basses, the kelp bass, Paralabrax clathratus, 

 and the spotted sand bass, P. maculatofasciatus; thus 

 reports of bass abundance are based on a complex of 

 these three species. Nonetheless, larval abundance 

 of sea basses is the most seasonal of the species we 

 studied, beginning in early summer and peaking in 

 August, and thus bass eggs in the ocean are prob- 

 ably exposed to a narrower range of temperatures 

 (Lavenberg et al., 1986). Perhaps because sea bass 

 have a limited spawning season when waters are 

 warmest, reaching 20-22°C nearshore (Petersen et 

 al., 1986), a broad tolerance to high temperatures 

 results in enhanced bass egg survival. Unseasonally 

 cool temperatures or extended periods of upwelling 

 could result in reduced survival; Lavenberg et al. 

 ( 1986) reported that fewer sea bass larvae were col- 

 lected during June and July 1980 when temperatures 

 were anomalously low (Petersen et al., 1986). 



Temperature ranges tolerated by fish eggs and lar- 

 vae are also related to adult geographic distribution. 

 In a study of the nearshore southern California Bight, 

 Walker et al. (1987) found that larvae collected in 

 cooler months were generally of species whose adult 

 northern ranges extend to Canada, whereas larvae 

 abundant during warmer months were species whose 

 ranges extended primarily to Point Conception or 

 northern California. The four species we studied fol- 

 low this pattern: adults of barred sand bass and fan- 

 tail sole range to Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay, re- 

 spectively, whereas white croaker and California 

 halibut both range farther north to British Colum- 

 bia ( Miller and Lea, 1972 ). All species have been col- 

 lected as far south as Baja California. Thus, species- 

 specific temperature tolerance ranges for early life 

 history stages offish may reflect a variety of interre- 



lated factors such as the timing and duration of a 

 species' spawning season, spatial spawning patterns, 

 and adult geographic distributions. 



Acknowledgments 



Valuable laboratory assistance was provided by L. 

 Abbott, G. Caddell, K. Fujimoto, G. Lattin, R. 

 Lavenberg, G. McGowen, D. Nuygen, J. Petersen, and 

 G. Weins. We thank R. Lavenberg and J. Stephens 

 Jr. for their support and J. Petersen, G. McGowen, 

 J. Rounds, and two anonymous readers for review- 

 ing this manuscript. This study was funded by the 

 California Department of Fish and Game and the 

 Southern California Edison Company. 



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