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WINTER FLOUNDER PSUEDOPLEURONECTES AMERICANUS HATCHING SUCCESS AS A FUNCTION OF BURIAL DEPTH IN THE LABORATORY
Citation:
Berry, W J., E K. Hinchey, N Rubinstein, AND G. KleinMacphee. WINTER FLOUNDER PSUEDOPLEURONECTES AMERICANUS HATCHING SUCCESS AS A FUNCTION OF BURIAL DEPTH IN THE LABORATORY. Presented at Flatfish Biology Conference, Westbrook, CT, December 1-2, 2004.
Description:
Previous experiments have shown that viable hatch of winter flounder eggs is reduced when the eggs are buried by as little as one half of one egg diameter (approximately 0.5 mm of sediment). This sensitivity to burial has resulted in seasonal banning of dredging in several northeastern U.S. estuaries. In this study, a series of experiments was performed to better determine burial effects on hatching success of winter flounder. In the first experiment, eggs were exposed to clean, fine-grained sediment with burial depths including a no-sediment control, dusting (< 0.5 mm), and up to 2 egg diameters (2 mm) of sediment. A trend of decreased hatch success and delayed hatch date with increasing depth of burial relative to controls was observed: however, differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). In a second experiment, treatments included a no-sediment control, 4 egg diameters (4 mm) of clean, fine grained sediment, and between 0.5 to 6 diameters (0.5 - 6 mm) of highly contaminated, fine-grained sediment. Eggs buried in 4 diameters of clean sediment did not hatch. Hatch from eggs dusted with contaminated sediment was similar to controls, while eggs buried by ? 3 diameters of contaminated sediment had little or no hatching success. There was no evidence of delayed hatch. The results of the second experiment must be interpreted with caution, however, due to the low control survival (21%). Overall, the results of our initial trials indicate that winter flounder eggs may be more resistant to burial than previously thought.