Influence of oceanic and climate conditions on the early life history of European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax

Decoupling carry-over effects from environment in fish nursery grounds

“…growth during the whole larval life) used in this Accepted manuscript / Final version 16 study may have been insufficient to highlight an effect for this narrow period. The control of sea temperature and prey abundance on larval growth was expected and congruent with findings of other studies (McCormick and Molony, 1995;O'Connor et al, 2007;Raventos et al, 2021;Sponaugle et al, 2006;Teichert et al, 2016b), including seabass larvae (Pinto et al, 2021). However, our results clearly emphasize the direct carry-over effect of these traits on the time larvae spend in the pelagic environment.…”

“…However, some aggregation and reproduction have also been observed in coastal waters (Dambrine et al, 2021). Pelagic eggs are laid and fertilized in open water and then newly hatched larvae begin a pelagic phase for ~40-100 days (Jennings et al, 1991;Pinto et al, 2021). After the pelagic phase, larvae reach coastal waters where they remain for few weeks Accepted manuscript / Final version before metamorphosing into juveniles and actively settle in nurseries, such as salt marshes and estuaries, when environmental cues are appropriate (Jennings and Pawson, 1992).…”

“…We measured five life-history traits related to fitness across ontogenetic stages using reconstructive otolith microstructure methods and direct measurements for assessing the fish body condition (Table 1). As for most of juvenile fish, the development of seabass otolith (fish ear stones) is featured by deposition of daily growth increments, which provide insights on fish age when rings are counted and on somatic growth rate when focusing on the distance between these increments (Pinto et al, 2021;Regner and Dulčić, 1994). Moreover, the presence of a distinct mark at settlement on otoliths affords segregating the larval pelagic stage from the juvenile nursery phase, so that each ontogenetic stage can be investigated separately (Figure S1).…”

“…We described the environmental constraints experienced by fish during their pelagic and postsettlement stages (Table 2) by selecting variables according to their documented effects on fish traits Accepted manuscript / Final version (Brosset et al, 2015;Pinto et al, 2021;Raventos et al, 2021;Teichert et al, 2016b). Surface temperature (°C), plankton concentrations (µgN.L -1 ) and salinity were obtained daily from the physicalbiogeochemical model ECO-MARS3D covering the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel (Modelling and Analysis for Coastal Research project, https://marc.ifremer.fr, Ifremer, University of Brest, CNRS, IRD, Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM, Brest, France).…”

Reading the biomineralized book of life: expanding otolith biogeochemical research and applications for fisheries and ecosystem-based management

“…Otoliths and archival tissues are ideal structures to assess the magnitude of survival bias (mortality) through cohort-based sampling. Age reconstructions in fisheries have revealed poor recruitment of particular year-classes and growth variability due to environmental fluctuations or extreme events that may result in fish kills (Martino et al 2019;Pinto et al 2021;Reis-Santos et al 2021;Wang et al 2011). Similarly, Woodson et al (2013) reconstructed daily growth rates in Chinook salmon from cohorts through time and demonstrated that individuals that were larger and growing faster during their early lives had greater survival than smaller and slower growing individuals during poor oceanographic conditions.…”