Friday November 11, 2022
PhysOrg —
The water flow where adult fish live can affect the body shape and survival of their offspring, according to new research.
The study—led by an international collaboration between CRIOBE (French Polynesia) and the University of Glasgow, and published today in Functional Ecology—found that the survival of fish born from parents living under high water flow was reduced by half compared to fish born from those living under low water flow.
The study looked at orange-fin anemonefish Amphiprion chrysopterus from a wild population in Moorea, French Polynesia. The researchers found that offspring born from fish living under high water flow had distinct fin shapes when they left to find their own “home,” but slower growth once they had selected an environment in which to live.
Animals live in environments in which many factors may differ, and often the environments of parents and their offspring are not the same. In the marine realm, most fish have two parts to their life-cycle: an early stage as offspring, where young fish can disperse long distances in open water before selecting a suitable environment in which to develop and grow, and secondly a less mobile adult stage.