Version 1
: Received: 3 October 2024 / Approved: 4 October 2024 / Online: 10 October 2024 (13:25:07 CEST)
How to cite:
Árnason, T.; Bárðarson, B.; Steinarsson, A. Cultivation and Growth Dynamics of Capelin (Mallotus villosus) from Hatch to Adulthood. Preprints2024, 2024100726. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0726.v1
Árnason, T.; Bárðarson, B.; Steinarsson, A. Cultivation and Growth Dynamics of Capelin (Mallotus villosus) from Hatch to Adulthood. Preprints 2024, 2024100726. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0726.v1
Árnason, T.; Bárðarson, B.; Steinarsson, A. Cultivation and Growth Dynamics of Capelin (Mallotus villosus) from Hatch to Adulthood. Preprints2024, 2024100726. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0726.v1
APA Style
Árnason, T., Bárðarson, B., & Steinarsson, A. (2024). Cultivation and Growth Dynamics of Capelin (Mallotus villosus) from Hatch to Adulthood. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0726.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Árnason, T., Birkir Bárðarson and Agnar Steinarsson. 2024 "Cultivation and Growth Dynamics of Capelin (Mallotus villosus) from Hatch to Adulthood" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0726.v1
Abstract
This study describes the first successful rearing of capelin from hatch to adulthood in a laboratory setting using intensive culture methods. Over the span of about two years the capelin were reared in aquaculture tanks under a constant temperature of 7°C. The capelin demonstrated a robust linear growth during their first year of life, with a mean length increment of 0.36 mm per day. Due to their accelerated growth, some of the capelin became sexually mature as early as one-year post hatch. The first year was characterized by a rapid increase in condition factor (CF) while the second year showed a plateau. The von Bertalanffy growth equation effectively described the two-year growth of the cultivated capelin, predicting an asymptotic length (L∞) of 18.4 cm, similar to the 18.6 cm median L∞ of wild Icelandic capelin (1981–2018 cohorts). The cultivated capelin were projected to reach this length in 2.6 years, compared to about 6 years for wild capelin. This study provides new insights into the growth dynamics of capelin, and although the species is sensitive to handling, it demonstrates that intensive culture methods can be used to investigate biological aspects of this important forage species.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
