Fish larva

A fish larva is the immature stage between hatching and transformation into a juvenile. It often differs from the juvenile in body shape, feeding structures, and habitat.

Fish egg: A fertilized ovum or developing embryo of a fish, enclosed by protective layers. The larval stage begins when a fish hatches from its egg.
Larval fish feeding: The acquisition and ingestion of food by fish during their larval stage. The shift from yolk reserves to external food is a defining developmental challenge.
Fish recruitment: The addition of young fish to a population or fishery as they survive into a counted life stage. Larval survival and settlement help determine how many fish later recruit.
Critical period hypothesis: The hypothesis that a brief period around the start of external feeding strongly influences larval fish survival. It links early feeding success to later recruitment, though its importance varies among species.
Yolk sac: A membrane-bound store of nutrients that supports an embryo or newly hatched animal. Many newly hatched fish larvae rely on its remaining yolk before external feeding.
Fish metamorphosis: A coordinated developmental transition that changes a fish's body form, physiology, or habitat use. Metamorphic changes can establish the juvenile form and end larval development.
Fish hatchery: A facility that breeds, hatches, or raises fish for aquaculture, stocking, or research. Hatcheries manage larval feeding and water conditions to improve survival.
Bergmann's rule in fishes: A proposed tendency for fish in colder environments to reach larger body sizes than related fish in warmer environments. Larval growth under warming conditions complicates predictions based on this broad size pattern.
Fish juvenile: A young fish that has acquired the general body form of an adult but is not yet sexually mature. The transition to this stage marks the end of larval development.
Allometric growth: Growth in which body parts change size at different rates relative to the whole organism. Unequal growth reshapes larval proportions as the fish develops.

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