Impact of Short-term Salinity and Turbidity Stress on the Early Developmental Stages of Japanese Flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus (Temminck and Schlegel, 1846).

Coastal marine environments are exposed to frequent salinity drop and increase in turbidity due to heavy rainfall. This creates stressful conditions for marine organisms that inhabit the area, especially during their early stages of development. In this study, two experiments were carried out to assess the effects of short-term salinity and turbidity stress on embryonic and early larval stages of Japanese flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus (Temminck and Schlegel, 1846). In the first experiment, the embryos of Japanese flounder were exposed to different combinations of salinity (34, 30, 26, 22, 18 and 14 PSU) and turbidity (0, 100, 300, 500, 700 NTU) for a short period of 3 h. Experiment 2 evaluated the salinity tolerance at different developmental stages under the turbidity level of 700 NTU. The results showed that turbidity significantly influenced hatching rate, percentage of abnormality, total length, yolk sac volume, and survival rate, whereas salinity only affected the percentage of abnormality. There was no significant salinity/turbidity interaction of these parameters. Results suggested that embryos were more susceptible to turbidity compared to salinity stress, and embryos and newly hatched larvae stages were more tolerant to environmental stress conditions compared to yolk sac larvae and oil globule larvae stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]