NCMA2022 experiment update: first genetic material sampled

18 June 2022. We are happy to report that our genomic silverside experiment has progressed from "Can we really pull this off?" to "We think we just might" over the past weeks. The silverside larvae of these different crosses show stunning size variability, between populations and temperatures. We already obtained two early life mortality estimates and lots of genetic material, including a full set of crosses reared at 26C and ad libitum food, reaching 20 mm in roughly 4 weeks post hatch. Fingers crossed for the rest of the rearing time.

NCB-rest-larvae-to-be-counted-6-9-22
9 dph larvae from the North Carolina Batch fertilization, waiting to be counted on 9 June 2022

NCB-vs-MAB-rest-20C-3JUN22
Visually stunning comparison of 9 dph silverside larvae reared at 20C from North Carolina batches vs. Massachusetts batches

Menidia-26C-7JUN2022
Digital length measurements of a small subsample of silverside larvae from the 26C treatment (crosses unknown)

26C-ImageJ-example
Silverside juveniles subsampled on 16JUN 2022 from bucket 3 of tank D (D#), housing the Massachusetts Batch (B4 of 7) in the 26C treatment, counted via ImageJ, preserved in RNAlater