Temporal variations in scale cortisol indicate consistent local-and broad-scale constraints in a wild marine teleost fish

Abstract

Environmental changes can alter the nursery function of coastal areas through their impact on juveniles' growth and survival rates, an effect mediated by individuals' chronic stress response. Fish chronic stress can be quantified using scale cortisol but no study has yet been quantified the spatio-temporal variations in scale cortisol and its relationship with growth in wild nurseries. We collected wild sea bass juveniles (Dicentrarchus labrax, four years, three nurseries) and found that scale cortisol levels increased consistently with age and across cohorts in 2019 and 2020 probably due to greater stress history in older fish and/or heatwaves that occurred in summers of 2018 and 2019. Growth was impaired in fish with high scale cortisol in 2019 and 2020, confirming the usefulness of scale cortisol as a biomarker of broad and local constraints in wild fish; longer time series will enable us to identify environmental factors underpinning these temporal variations.

Keywords: Allostatic load; Chronic stress; Fish; Fitness; Growth; Nurseries.