438 
Fishery Bulletin 95(3), 1997 
The counterpoint to O-ration data is provided by 
the data at 5.0 prey/mL at 20°C and 25°C (Table 1). 
The data clearly demonstrate accumulation of en- 
ergy as protein and little storage of lipids. Larvae 
raised at 20°C increased in protein level (%AFBM) 
from 43.74% as eggs to 51.73% as day- 14 larvae. Lipid 
levels decreased (%AFDM) from 24.34% in eggs to 
9.17% in day-14 larvae. Protein concentrations in- 
creased from 7.66 pg/individual at day 2 to 16.34 pg/ 
individual at day 14. Lipid concentrations increased 
from 1.53 pg/individual at day 6 to 2.89 pg/individual 
at day 14. An identical pattern was observed in lar- 
vae reared at 25°C (Table 1). 
The data set for proximate composition values col- 
lected on pond-raised larvae was smaller than ideal 
owing to problems in obtaining adequate sample sizes 
from the ponds. However, the data on accumulated 
protein and lipid concentrations give an excellent indi- 
cation of maximum growth. Pond-raised larvae at 25°C 
and 32°C showed faster accumulation of total protein 
and lipid than larvae raised in the laboratory (Table 
1). Protein levels of larvae increased in %AFDM from 
42.70% and 45.62%, in eggs, to 56.22% and 64.16% in 
day- 14 larvae, at 25°C and 32°C, respectively. Lipid lev- 
els (%AFDM) decreased from 24.98% to 9.87% at 32°C; 
decreases in lipid percentages were also observed in 
the 25°C pond and in the laboratory -raised larvae. 
Pond-reared larvae at 25°C increased in total pro- 
tein content from 8.16 pg/individual at day 2 to 
484.30 pg/individual at day 14, whereas those kept 
at 32°C increased from 82.20 pg/individual at day 7 
to 1,116.20 pg at day 14 (Table 2). Thus, an increase 
in 10°C resulted in a three-fold increase in protein 
(pg/individual) in 2-week-old larvae raised in the 
ponds. Lipid values for larvae raised at 25°C and 32°C 
were also much higher than those for larvae raised 
in the laboratory; day- 14 pond larvae on average had 
lipid contents of 85.06 pg/individual and 171.44 pg/ 
individual, respectively. 
Carbon (%AFDM) remained about the same with 
age in all rearing conditions (Table 1), whereas ni- 
trogen (%AFDM) remained fairly constant or in- 
creased with age at all ration levels. Carbon-nitro- 
gen (C:N) ratios were higher in larvae kept at a ra- 
tion level of 0 prey/mL than in larvae raised either 
at 5.0 prey/mL or in the ponds, indicating that pro- 
tein commanded the largest fraction of the starved 
larva’s mass. Values for C:N remained high in starved 
larvae until death at day 5 (4.35 ± 0.46). Pond-raised 
larvae had values similar to those observed in lar- 
vae reared on 5.0 prey/mL in the laboratory but were 
slightly lower at day 14 (3.56 vs. 3.73). Caloric con- 
tents of the larvae were calculated from protein and 
lipid content by using the conversion factors in Brett 
and Groves (1979) and are reported in Table 1. 
Protein-specific growth and biochemical 
indicators 
Table 2 summarizes results for growth in protein 
(absolute and instantaneous) and the two biochemi- 
cal indicators, RNA:BNA and LDH activity, for easy 
comparison. Instantaneous growth shows an inter- 
esting trend with the age interval chosen for calcu- 
lation. If growth in protein was calculated from day 2 
to day 14, larvae exhibit the trends discussed previ- 
ously for growth in dry mass (see results) where low- 
est growth was observed in the 20°C laboratory treat- 
ment and highest in the 32°C ponds. If instantaneous 
growth was calculated instead for the interval from 
day 6 to day 14, the highest growth was observed in 
the 25°C ponds (Table 2) and would suggest that the 
growth spurt during the first 4 d of feeding in the 
32°C pond was important in determining growth 
during the larvae’s first 14 d of life. 
RNA-DNA ratio RNA:DNA in each treatment 
showed a decline from a high value typical of the 
yolk-sac stage (day 1: grand mean for all treatments 
4.27 ± 0.83; x ± SD) to a plateau at day 4 that char- 
acterized the treatment and showed no significant 
change over the remaining 10 days (Fig 3; Table 2). 
In starved larvae RNA:DNA reached a plateau at a 
value of 0.7, indicating that protein synthetic capac- 
ity was severely diminished after that time. 
RNAiBNA in larvae raised at 5.0 prey/mL in the labo- 
ratory showed a gradual decline to a plateau of 1.5 
at 20°C and 1.3 at 25°C (Fig 3; Table 2); values at the 
plateau were significantly different between the two 
temperatures (ANOVA: df=25, F=6.31, P=0.019) 
Pond-raised larvae had higher growth rates than 
laboratory-reared individuals (Figs. 1 and 2; Tables 
1 and 2), and values for RNA:BNA were much greater 
in the 25°C pond than in any of the laboratory treat- 
ments (Fig. 3). Larvae raised in the ponds at 25°C 
had a value of 3.6 at 2 weeks of age, whereas those 
reared at 32°C averaged 1.5 at day 14. RNA:BNA 
values were significantly different between the two 
pond treatments (ANOVA: df=12, F=14.19, P=0.003). 
Three treatments took place at a temperature of 
25° C: starved, 5 prey/mL, and pond. If protein growth 
rates and RNA:BNA are compared between labora- 
tory and ponds at 25°C (Table 2), there is an excel- 
lent correlation between protein growth and 
RNA:BNA. Instantaneous protein growth rate in the 
laboratory was 13.5%/d from day 2 to day 14; in the 
pond it was 34%/d over the same interval: an increase 
of 2.5 fold. RNA:BNA showed an increase of 1.3 to 
3.0 in laboratory- versus pond-reared larvae over the 
same interval with a similar 2.3-fold increase. The 
negative growth observed in starved larvae at 25°C 
