Meeting Abstract
As the earth’s atmosphere becomes warmer in response to global climate change, more organisms are being affected at varying stages of their life history. The California Grunion, Leuresthes tenuis is a beach spawning teleost that is endemic to the Pacific Coast of North America from Tomales Bay, CA to Punta Abreojos, Mexico. L. tenuis may be uniquely affected by rising temperatures due to its unusual embryonic development occurring in a terrestrial environment rather than a marine one. To examine the effects of embryonic development of L. tenuis under temperature stress, I examined the effects of exposure to high temperatures for only a portion of the day coupled with a rest period of a lower temperature overnight. Little has been done to compare the incubation of L. tenuis in water versus air, so I also describe the developmental differences observed between eggs incubated in sand versus seawater. Eggs were incubated in either sand or water in three temperature conditions: constant 20°C, alternating 30°C for eight hours and 20°C for sixteen hours resulting in a mean temperature of ~23°C, and constant 30°C. The eggs were examined under a microscope daily to monitor developmental progress. Daily hatching success testing began at 5 days post fertilization and hatchling length was sampled. The eggs incubated in water showed more frequent deformities, slower embryonic development, lower hatching success, and shorter hatchling length than those incubated in sand across all temperature treatments. Future studies should focus on the mechanisms that cause the developmental deficiencies in eggs incubated in water.
