Presenter(s): Natalie Mosqueda − Biology
Faculty Mentor(s): John Postlethwait, Thomas Desvignes
Poster 70
Research Area: Developmental Biology
Funding: SPUR NIH Grant
Among adapted species is the Antarctic Bullhead Notothen, Notothenia coriiceps, a Notothenoid only found in the secluded waters of the Southern Ocean. The Antarctic Peninsula in particular is one of the faster warming areas, warming at a rate 10 times faster than the global average and is expected to rise 4°C from the normal -1/0°C at the end of the century. It is important to investigate the effects of the warming temperature on embryogenesis and more specifically on early skeletal development of the Antarctic fish, N. coriiceps. We hypothesize that fish embryos raised at the higher temperature of +4°C will develop faster compared to embryos raised at the normal water temperature of about -1°C. In addition, we hypothesize that elevated temperature will result in asynchronous and abnormal development of various skeletal elements in embryos compared to control embryos raised at normal temperature. For this study, reproductive adult Notothenia coriiceps were collected around the Antarctic Peninsula in 2014 and 2016. Half of the embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization were raised at +4°C and composed the “heated” group, while the other half were raised at natural temperature between -1 and 0°C and formed the “control” group. We collected embryos at regular intervals during the first four months of development, fixed them and preserved them in 80% ethanol. The development and morphology of skeletal elements was recorded with a numbering system and results showed that the “heated” embryos had a faster embryonic and skeletal development compared to the “control” embryos, confirming our hypotheses. Our results therefore indicate that elevated water temperatures impact the normal skeletal development of the Antarctic fish larvae and could alter their survival if global warming predictions prove to be accurate. Additionally, there is asynchronous development between the cranial facial skeletal features and the axial skeleton among the two sample groups that could lead to later development issues