Wave action: the environmental trigger for hatching in the California grunion Leuresthes tenuis (Teleostei: Atherinopsidae) |
| |
Authors: | J N Griem K L M Martin |
| |
Affiliation: | (1) Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California 90263-4321, USA Fax: 001 (0)310 456 4785 e-mail: kmartin@pepperdine.edu, US |
| |
Abstract: | California grunion Leuresthes tenuis (Teleostei: Atherinopsidae) emerge from the ocean to spawn on beaches of southern California. Grunion eggs do not hatch at
a set developmental age, but remain in the sand until turbulent surf at high tide washes them out to sea. In previously studied
fishes and amphibians that lay eggs terrestrially, low oxygen is the trigger for hatching in water, and high oxygen tensions
inhibit hatching. For the grunion, however, eggs placed in air, seawater and oil did not hatch at any at oxygen tension until
they were agitated in fluid. Following agitation in seawater, all eggs hatched within several minutes. Grunion eggs in normoxic
or hyperoxic water hatched significantly faster than eggs agitated at the lowest oxygen tensions. Mechanical agitation, not
hypoxia, is the environmental trigger for hatching in California grunion eggs.
Received: 15 May 1999 / Accepted: 5 April 2000 |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|