The effect of temperature and food density on survival and growth of Menidia peninsulae larvae (Pisces: Atherinidae)

Day of hatch tidewater silversides, Menidia peninsulae, were stocked at 5 fish per liter in 3 1 of seawater at 30‰ and raised for 16 days at 20°, 25° and 30 °C. Food organisms (Brachionus sp. or Artemia nauplii) were maintained at 500, 1,000, 5,000 or 10,000 organisms per 1. The influence of food density on growth of larval M. peninsulae was temperature dependent. At 20 °C, there was no difference in final size of fish based on food densities. But at 25° and 30 °C there was an increase in final body size as food density increased. There were no significant differences in survival among food densities in tests at 20°, 25° or 30 °C. However, for any given temperature and food density, the number of survivors in a replicate affected the final size attained. Optimal culture condition for larval M. peninsulae, considering both survival and growth was determined to be 5,000 food organisms per 1 at 25 °C.