Daily Growth of the Juvenile Fish (Menidia menidia) in the Natural Habitat Compared with Juveniles Reared in the Laboratory

摘要

The Atlantic Silverside (Menidia menidia) is an abundant annual fish in Rhode Island, USA, waters and is being cultured in the Narragansett Laboratory of EPA for use in toxicological bioassays following culture techniques described by Beck (1977). It is desirable for laboratory-reared fish used in the bioassays to approximate the field-captured fish as closely as possible. Comparing growth of lab-reared fish with those in the field has been difficult. The relatively long spawning season in Rhode Island results in large variation in size of field fish at any one time. This study uses the otolith daily growth ring aging technique developed by Barkman to compare growth of M. menidia in lab and field populations and to examine growth of field fish hatched at different times.