Critical partial pressures of oxygen causing precocious hatching in Coregonus lavaretus and C. albula embryos

• Published in: Aquaculture 2001-05, Vol.196 (1), p.151-158
• Main Authors: Czerkies, Piotr, Brzuzan, Pawel, Kordalski, Krzysztof, Luczynski, Miroslaw
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal aquaculture; Animal productions; Animal reproduction; Biological and medical sciences; Coregonus albula; Coregonus lavaretus; Critical partial pressure; Developmental stages; Embryos; Fish; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hatching; Hypoxia; Marine biology; Oxygen; Pisciculture; Vertebrate aquaculture
• ISSN: 0044-8486; 1873-5622
• DOI: 10.1016/S0044-8486(00)00545-7

Embryos of whitefish ( Coregonus lavaretus) and vendace ( C. albula) were exposed to various hypoxic conditions at constant temperatures of 8°C and 11°C at the developmental stages of “eye movement visible” and “first embryos hatched”. Eggs exposed to hypoxia responded with precocious hatching and the response depended on the degree of hypoxia, test temperature, and developmental phase. The calculated critical partial pressures of oxygen ( pO 2) causing precocious hatching at 8°C were 40 mm Hg (3.0 ppm dissolved oxygen concentration—DO) for whitefish and 28 mm Hg (2.1 ppm DO) for vendace embryos. The sensitivity of embryos to hypoxic stress increased rapidly as development progressed. Eventually, the critical pO 2 for vendace eggs increased to 81 mm Hg (6.0 ppm DO) at the stage of “first embryos hatched”. Higher temperatures caused stronger response of embryos to hypoxia: exposure of whitefish embryos for 60 min to pO 2 of 3 mm Hg (0.2 ppm DO) at 8°C resulted in hatching of 43% of eggs, whereas at 11°C, hatching increased to 95% (at the same oxygen concentration). Adequate DO concentrations must be provided in incubation to prevent early hatching and increased mortality.