Black rockfish otolith and early life history data

Understanding how future ocean conditions will affect populations of marine species is integral to predicting how climate change will impact both ecosystem function and fisheries management. Fish population dynamics are driven by variable survival of the early life stages, which are highly sensitive to environmental conditions. As global warming generates extreme ocean conditions (i.e., marine heatwaves) we can gain insight into how larval fish growth and mortality will change in warmer conditions. The California Current Large Marine Ecosystem experienced anomalous ocean warming from 2014-2016, creating novel conditions. We examined the otolith microstructure of juveniles of the economically and ecologically important species black rockfish (Sebastes melanops) collected from 2013-2019 to quantify the implications of changing ocean conditions on early growth and survival. Our results demonstrated that fish growth and development were positively related to temperature, but survival to set...