Evaluating the potential importance of individual identity, maternal traits, and environment as predictors of egg characteristics in walleye Sander vitreus

Individual and environmental factors may influence gamete characteristics and contributions to recruitment in fishes. We tested for the influence of maternal, abiotic, and biotic factors on egg diameter and quality (i.e., oil droplet diameter) for walleye Sander vitreus in Escanaba Lake, Wisconsin, during 2018–2023 (omitting 2020). Analyses were conducted on fish captured once and for the same individuals captured multiple times during our study period. In the single-capture analysis, increasing maternal length was weakly related to larger egg diameter and oil droplet size. Increased yellow perch abundance was somewhat related to increased intra-clutch variation, whereas a later ice-off date was related to reduced intra-clutch variation. Fish that spawned later had more variable egg and oil droplet diameters. Among fish that were sampled over multiple years, individual identity was a strong predictor of egg and oil diameter. Our results suggest that regulations that preserve among individual variation in egg traits could increase the chances that environmental conditions will be favorable for spawning and recruitment for at least some fish. •Walleye young-of-year recruitment is declining across species range.•Egg quality an understudied aspect of recruitment with high research potential.•We linked egg size to environmental stochasticity and maternal size over time.•Fish identity was strongest predictor of egg quality independent of other factors.•Implications for genetic drivers of egg quality influenced by climate variation.