Muscle growth in yolk‐sac larvae of the Atlantic halibut as influenced by temperature in the egg and yolk‐sac stage

Abstract

Atlantic halibut eggs and yolk-sac larvae were incubated at 1, 5 and 8 C. Eggs incubated at 8 C gave slightly shorter larvae at hatching with a significantly smaller total cross-sectional area of white muscle fibres than eggs incubated at 5 C. Transport of eggs 2 days prior to hatching gave significantly longer larvae at hatching with a significantly larger red fibre cross-sectional area than when eggs were transported shortly after the blastopore closure. A higher survival until 230 degree days after hatching was also observed in the former group. All eggs incubated at 1 C died before hatching and all larvae incubated at 1 C died before 45 degree days after hatching. From hatching until 230 degree days the total white cross-sectional area increased threefold in all temperature groups. The increase in white cross-sectional area was entirely due to hypertrophy between hatching and 150 degree days (10 mm L S ). Recruitment of new white fibres increased in germinal zones at the dorsal, ventral and lateral borders of the myotome from 150 degree days onwards, but at 230 degree days (12-13 mm L S ) the recruitment fibre zone constituted <10% of the total white cross-sectional area. Larval incubation at 8 C gave slightly longer larvae with a significantly larger cross-sectional area of recruitment fibres at 230 degree days than incubation at 5 C. The larval group incubated at 8 C also had a significantly lower survival until 230 degree days than did the 5 C group. Incubation temperature regimes did not affect the volume density of myofibrils in the axial muscle fibres at 230 degree days. Thus hypertrophy is the predominant mechanism of axial white muscle growth in Atlantic halibut yolk-sac larvae and an increased rearing temperature during the yolk-sac stage increases white muscle fibre hyperplasia. 1999 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles

The influence of temperature during early life on phenotypic expression at later ontogenetic stages in sea bass

“…The environment experienced by a fish has a significant influence on the fish's phenotype during the entire life cycle. It is well known that factors like water temperature, salinity, swimming exercise, food availability and food content during various developmental periods can modify a fish's external morphology (Meyer, 1987;Blaxter, 1988;Corti et al, 1996;Loy et al, 1996;Koumoundouros et al, 1999Koumoundouros et al, , 2001Peres-Neto & Magnan, 2004), rate of ontogeny (Kinne & Kinne, 1962;Blaxter, 1969;Polo et al, 1991;Fuiman et al, 1998;Klimogianni et al, 2004), gender (Pavlidis et al, 2000;Koumoundouros et al, 2002;Piferrer et al, 2005), muscle anatomy and cellularity (Stickland et al, 1988;Johnston, 1993;Galloway et al, 1999). The understanding of the integrated character of phenotypic plasticity, however, requires the study FIG.…”

Comparative organ differentiation during early life stages of marine fish

“…Thyroid hormones stimulate muscle growth and the larval-type musculature (thin muscle-fibers and basophilic sarcoplasm) is changed into the adult type (thicker muscle fibers with abundant myofibrils) during metamorphosis. A thin superficial band of red muscle aggregates along the midline, accompanied by an increase in the complexity of myomere arrangement [24,25,63] Thyroid hormones have also been suggested to be involved in erythropoiesis. Premetamorphic flounder larvae have only larval-type erythrocytes (large, round cells with pycnotic nuclei), while at metamorphic climax many smaller erythroid cells with larger nuclei appear in the circulation and these cells develop into elliptical adult-type erythrocytes which completely replace the larval-type erythrocytes [63].…”

“…In the first developmental phases of most teleosts, the myotomes are composed of presumptive white immature fibers surrounded by a monolayer of small embryonic red fibers, these can be more differentiated in some species [54]. The red muscle is initially present as a superficial cylindrical sheath around the body, but it later becomes concentrated in a midlateral strip [12,24,36]. Post-embryonic growth is associated with both hypertrophy (increase of muscle fiber diameters) and by hyperplasia (recruitment of new muscle fibers) from undifferentiated myoblasts or myosatellite cells.…”

What determines growth potential and juvenile quality of farmed fish species?

“…As a consequence of changes in the timing of fin and fin muscle development in relation to larval length the maximum swimming speed of Atlantic herring larvae was 24% higher in larvae hatched at 12°C ET than 5°C ET until 22 mm TL, with potential impacts on prey capture success and escape behaviour (Johnston et al 2001). Increased embryonic temperature prior to first feeding is known to reduce the embryonic period and to have a significant effect on white muscle growth dynamics throughout the larval stages of important farmed marine species such as sea bass (Ayala et al 2001;Alami-Durante et al 2006), halibut (Galloway et al 1999b), sole (Campos et al 2012a), cod (Galloway et al 1998) and Atlantic salmon (Stickland et al 1988;. However, after transference to similar rearing conditions free-swimming larvae that experienced cold embryonic temperature usually show substantial catch-up compensatory growth (Ayala et al 2001;.…”