Patterns of settlement and growth of juvenile flounder Rhombosolea tapirina determined from otolith microstructure

Abstract

Examined juvenile Rhombosolea tapirina from Swan Bay, Victoria. Settlement was continuous from July-October, but most individuals had apparently immigrated from other settlement areas or were inaccessible to sampling for a brief period after settlement. Population growth rate of juvenile flounder was approximately linear, averaging 0.29 mm d-1. Growth rate over the first 20 d post settlement for the winter cohort averaged 0.17 mm d-1 compared to 0.23 mm d-1 for the spring cohort. Early in the settlement season, temperature had a positive influence on metabolism, which in turn affected somatic and otolith growth rates, but temperature apparently reached a critical level later in the season, which resulted in high temperature having a deleterious effect on metabolism, leading to a negative correlation between temperature and growth. -from Authors