Starvation Resistance of Larvae of the Japanese Sand Eel Ammodytes personatus

Abstract

The ability of newly hatched larvae of the Japanese sand eel to resist starvation was studied in a rearing experiment. The starved larvae were all dead by day 14 at 15.5°C, by day 20 at 10.5°C, and by day 24 at 6,5°C. During 23 days starvation at 6.5°C, the dry weight of the larvae decreased from 33,9 μg at hatching to 22.3 μg, and SL decreased from 5,57 mm at complete yolk-sac absorption to 5.10 mm. The percentage survival on day 24 in the delayed feeding experiment was 55 % for the larvae fed from day 2, 48 % for day 5, 59% for day 9, 53% for day 12, 30% for day 13, 17% for day 14, 11 % for day 15, 9% for day 16, and 9% for day 17. A clear point of no return was not found and a long duration of recoverable starvation, about 9 days, was estimated. Even some of the larvae that were fed from day 17 ingested food and grew. These results show that the tolerance of starvation of the sand eel larvae has a wide range and that some of the larvae have high resistance to starvation. © 1986, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.