Growth and size-selective mortality of vendace (Coregonus albula (L.)) and whitefish (C. lavaretus L.) larvae

Vendace (Coregonus albula (L.)) and whitefish (C. lavaretus L.) larvae were sampled by stratified random sampling design in four Finnish lakes. Otolith microstructure analysis was used to investigate individual age, hatching time and growth rate of newly hatched larvae to reveal possible size-selective mortality during early life. The majority of the larvae hatched during a short period after the ice-off. Significant differences in hatching length between the lakes were found. Growth rate decreased when larvae became larger and the growth rate was slowest in the lake with the highest density of larvae. However, larger larvae were not relatively more abundant after first weeks and thus, size-dependent mortality was not evident. Hence, we observed that mortality of these two coregonid species during the first weeks was rather random in relation to size of the larvae. Overall, the mortality of vendace larvae with smaller hatching length was higher than that of larger whitefish larvae.