The role of osmoregulation and nutrition as determinants of buoyancy and short-term mortality of marine fish larvae

The buoyancy (or density = mass volume−1) of marine larval fish is influenced by their nutritional status, starved larvae being less dense than fed larvae of like age. Buoyancy has, therefore, been proposed as an indicator by which to assess the nutritional condition of marine fish larvae in experiments and in situ. It has also been hypothesized that larval fish experiencing advanced starvation will exhibit increased density due to water loss resulting from osmoregulatory breach and failure. The magnitude of osmoregulation-related changes in density has not been examined and its influence on interpretations of nutritional condition and vertical distributions are unknown. Through a series of controlled laboratory experiments performed on larvae of cod (Gadus morhua L.), I developed evidence that osmoregulatory breach and failure has a strong positive effect on the density of larval fish, and that this effect on density is not limited to larvae experiencing advanced stages of starvation. These effects of osmotic breach and failure are sufficient to obscure effects resulting exclusively from nutritionally caused changes in density. Hence, if not identified and controlled these osmotically driven density changes can bias parameterization of buoyancy-related condition indices. I developed methods for isolating nutritional and osmotic effects. This facilitated the calibration of a nutritionally based density index with which to evaluate the nutritional state of cod larvae. Comparison of the calibrated density assay with a suite of widely used indices of condition (morphometric, behavioural and biochemical) showed density to be superior in its capacity to correctly classify larvae with respect to their nutritional state. The density index was also less subject to bias resulting from uncontrolled changes in larval size. A linear regression model based on these findings was developed to assess the relationship between density as an index of condition and near-term larval mortality (24 h). A strong positive relationship was found (r2 = 0.77). Larval cod exhibiting densities >1.0338 g cm−3 were found to have a 50% probability of dying within 24 hours.