Carbon content and nutritional condition of sardine larvae ( Sardina pilchardus ) off the Atlantic coast of Spain

Abstract

As part of a “European Sardine/Anchovy Recruitment Program” (SARP), sardine larvae (Sardina pilchardus) were sampled off the Atlantic coast of Spain through the spawning season from March to June. The larvae were analysed for carbon and nitrogen content as a measure of nutritional condition and survival potential. There was no significant diel variation in larval carbon content, but there was a small significant diel variation in nitrogen; the absence of a strong diel signal in elemental composition was ascribed to the overnight retention of the gut contents. There was an increase in carbon content with increase in body length which reached an asymptote at ∼40% carbon content at a larval length of 20 mm. It is argued that larvae with a carbon content of <25% of body weight were nutritionally stressed, with the smaller larvae (<10 mm in length) appearing to be more vulnerable to food limitation. Although larvae with the lowest age-specific carbon content (poorest condition) occurred on the cruise with the lowest food availability, there was no consistent relationship between carbon content and food availability. While the successive monthly estimates of carbon content revealed differences in potential recruitment between months, these were not related to the birth-date distribution of the surviving juveniles.