Spawning and egg development ofPerca fluviatilis in Lake Zürich

Abstract

Egg survival and development rate of perch eggs were investigated in Lake Zürich, Switzerland. A transplant experiment was carried out to examine whether individual females choose different depths for spawning because of an expected advantage for the development of their eggs. Egg masses which had been deposited on fir branches stuck into the ground of the lake were either left untouched or transplanted horizontally or vertically at depths of 3 and 6 m. Spawning occurred between 28 April and 9 June 1987. Egg survival to the eye pigment stage (EPS) was high in all treatments ($\bar x = 99\%$, minimum 92%). There was no significant difference in egg survival between treatments, suggesting that females do not choose the spawning site because of individual fitness differences related to the depth of spawning. Early egg masses which were exposed to lower temperatures developed more slowly (120–140 day degrees to the EPS) than late egg masses which were exposed to higher temperatures (80–100 day degrees). The observed differences are in agreement with the hypothesis of a constant sum of day degrees necessary for egg development using the corrected formula derived by Guma'a (1978) which deducts an estimated threshold temperature of 5°C below which development of perch eggs effectively stops, from the actual temperature.