Ontogeny of swimming speed in larvae of pelagic-spawning, tropical, marine fishes

During the pelagic larval phase of teleost fishes, the larvae are subject to dispersal by currents. Dispersal trajectories can be substantially modified if the larvae have sufficient swimming abilities, so it is important to document how swimming ability develops during the pelagic larval phase. We used reared larvae (4 to 29 mm standard length) from commercial aquaculture farms in Taiwan to measure the development of swimming ability (critical speed,U crit) in larvae of 9 species (from 7 families) of Indo-Pacific coral reef and coastal fishes that hatch from pelagic eggs:Trachinotus blochii(Carangidae – jacks),Chanos chanos(Chanidae – milkfish),Platax teira(Ephippidae – batfishes),Leiognathus equulus(Leiognathidae – ponyfishes),Lutjanus malabaricus(Lutjanidae – snappers),Eleutheronema tetradactylum(Polynemidae – threadfins), andEpinephelus coioides,E. fuscoguttatusandE. malabaricus(Serranidae – groupers). Mean critical swimming speeds increased from