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Abstract

Temperature is known to have a strong
influence on cephalopod growth during the early
exponential growth phase. Most captive growth studies
have used constant temperature regimes and assumed
that populations are composed of identically sized
individuals at hatching, overlooking the effects of
seasonal temperature variation and individual hatchling
size heterogeneity. This study investigated the
relative roles of initial hatchling size and simulated
natural seasonal temperature regimes on the growth of
64 captive Octopus pallidus over a 4-month period.
Initial weights were recorded, and daily food consumption
and fortnightly growth monitored. Two
temperature treatments were applied replicating local
seasonal water temperatures: spring/summer (14–18C)
and summer/autumn (18–14C). Overall octopuses in
the spring/summer treatment grew at a rate of 1.42%
bwd–1 (% body weight per day) compared to 1.72%
bwd–1 in the summer/autumn treatment. Initial size
influenced growth rate in the summer/autumn treatment
with smaller octopuses (<0.25 g) growing faster
at 1.82% bwd–1 compared to larger octopuses at 1.68%
bwd–1. This was opposite to individuals in the spring/
summer treatment where smaller octopuses grew
slower at 1.29% bwd–1 compared to larger octopuses at
1.60% bwd–1. Initial size influenced subsequent growth,
however, this was dependent on feeding rate and appears
to be secondary to the effects of temperature.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Leporati, S and Pecl, GT and Semmens, JM
Journal or Publication Title:	Marine Biology
Publisher:	Springer
ISSN:	0025-3162
DOI / ID Number:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0575-y
Additional Information:	The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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