Use of Morphometrics and Biochemical Assays to Study the Development of Larval Tautog

"For tautog aqua culture to advance, the effect of diet quality on egg production, larval survival and larval growth must be quantified" (Perry and Ramseyer, 1997). This request for analytical assistance required a special laboratory that is familiar with dealing with both biochemical analyses and the concepts of morphological growth and development of embryos. Our laboratory accepted the challenge and developed the analytical skills to answer the questions posed. The dietary question focused on determining what algal feeding schedule was most efficient in providing the maximum levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) ingested by the protozoan culture (rotifers) that are to be fed to larval tautogs. The growth rate aspects were approached with a morphometrics approach which was aimed at developing methods to analyze embryonic, larval and young tautog development to allow comparison of different feeding protocols of growth rates. Talking with investigators at the Milford Laboratory it became clear that the objective was to establish when it was possible to stop feeding larvae with rotifers, which are expensive to rear, and replace them with commercial larval fish food.