© 2005 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
Parental effects on early life history traits of haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus
a Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at Kiel University Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany
b Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre PO Box 5667, St. John's, NL, Canada A1C 5X1
c Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Biological Station 531 Brandy Cove Road, St. Andrews, NB, Canada E5B 2L9
*Correspondence to W. N. Probst: Limnological Institute, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany. tel: +49 7531 882316. e-mail: wolfgang.probst{at}uni-konstanz.de.
Gametes from five male and three female haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) were crossed to produce 15 half-sibling families that were used to evaluate potential parental contributions to early life history variability. Larval morphology at 0 and 5 days post-hatch (dph) and time to starvation in the absence of food were examined. Maternal influences on larval standard length and yolk area were significant at 0 and 5 dph. Paternal effects on larval standard length were significant at 0 and 5 dph, whereas paternal effects on yolk area were only significant at 5 dph. Larval eye diameter was influenced by maternity at day 0 post-hatch and by both maternity and paternity at 5 dph. Myotome height of larvae was subject to maternal and paternal influences at 0 and 5 dph. Growth rate was significantly influenced by both paternity and maternity. Yolk utilization efficiency was significantly influenced by parental interaction, while the time taken for larvae to die in the absence of food was affected only by maternity. Results of this study not only confirm the importance of female contributions to larval development but also indicate a paternal influence on the development and the early life history success of marine fish.
Keywords: growth rate, haddock, hatch rate, larval morphology, parental effects, yolk utilization efficiency
Received 21 September 2005; accepted 21 November 2005.