Peña, R., C.U., McGregor-Bravo & M., Contreras-Olguín (2023). Allometric growth and larval development in Pacific red snapper Lutjanus peru under culture conditions. Journal of Fish Biology. 102(2): 413-425. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15279.
Renato Peña 1, Carlos Ulises McGregor-Bravo 2 y Mauricio Contreras-Olguín 3
Allometric growth is a common feature during fish larval development. It has beenproposed as a growth strategy to prioritize the development of body segmentsrelated to primordial functions like feeding and swimming to increase the probabilityof survival during this critical period. In the present study we evaluated the allometricgrowth patterns of body segments associated to swimming and feeding during thelarval stages of Pacific red snapper Lutjanus peru. The larvae were kept under inten-sive culture conditions and sampled every day from hatching until day 33 after hatch-ing. Each larva was classified according to its developmental stage into yolk-sac larva,preflexion larva, flexion larva or postflexion larva, measured and the allometricgrowth coefficient of different body segments was evaluated using the potentialmodel. Based on the results we can infer the presence of different ontogenetic priori-ties during the first developmental stages associated with vital functions like swim-ming during the yolk-sac stage [total length (TL) interval = 2.27–3.005 mm] andfeeding during the preflexion stage (TL interval = 3.007–5.60 mm) by promoting theaccelerated growth of tail (post anal) and head, respectively. In the flexion stage(TL interval = 5.61–7.62 mm) a change in growth coefficients of most body segmentscompared to the previous stage was detected, suggesting a shift in growth priorities.Finally, in the postflexion stage (TL interval = 7.60–15.48 mm) a clear tendency toisometry in most body segments was observed, suggesting that growth prioritieshave been fulfilled and the larvae will initiate with the transformation into a juvenile.These results provide a framework of the larval growth of L. peru in culture condi-tions which can be useful for comparative studies with other species or in aquacul-ture to evaluate the changes in larval growth due to new conditions or feedingprotocols.
Palabras clave: allometric growth; growth patterns; larval development
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