Effects of food deprivation on the larvae of two flatfishes

Abstract

For greatest survival, first-feeding halibut Paralichthys californicus and diamond turbot Hypsopsetta guttulata required food by the day of total yolk absorption. Some halibut larvae survived if fed 1 or 2 d after yolk depletion, but their growth rate was significantly less than larvae fed earlier. Survival of 3-wk-old larvae was greater in treatments with shorter starvation periods. In the field, larvae may experience varying periods of food deprivation due to differing spatial and temporal prey patch distributions. Results demonstrate that differences in starvation resistance, and possibly mortality under patchy feeding conditions, are ontogenetic and species-specific