The ontogeny of eDNA shedding during early development in Chinook Salmon

We conducted a lab study to explore eDNA shedding during early life history (from fertilized eggs until near yolk sac absorption) in Chinook Salmon at three biomasses: 10 eggs, 100 eggs, and 1,000 eggs, and each egg biomass was replicated (indicated as replicates 1 and 2). Water samples were collected at several time points before, during, and after hatch for detection of Chinook Salmon DNA. On days when water samples were collected, we counted the number of dead eggs and the number of viable eggs hatched (identified as larvae emerged from eggs) until hatching was completed. The dataset represents the results from testing water samples for Chinook Salmon DNA using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay and the number of dead eggs and the number of viable eggs hatched.