Centropristis striata

High CO2 tolerance of Black Sea Bass embryos / larvae – just out!

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12 June 2024. We are excited to share that Environmental Biology of Fishes just published our study on the CO2 sensitivity of Black Sea Bass early life stages! The experimental work was part of Max Zavell's PhD-research and required the development of new approaches for obtaining spawning adults, new rearing methods, and new techniques for quantifying hatchlings and feeding larvae.

In the end, our research extends earlier experimental work to show that Black Sea Bass embryos and larvae are surprisingly tolerant to even extreme pCO2 conditions - which means that this species is likely resistant to the direct (!) effects of ocean acidification. Scientifically, this is intriguing because it points to some form of pre-adaptation that adults confer to their offspring in a manner we just don't understand yet.

Congrats, Max, to another chapter of your thesis published!

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Black Sea Bass early life stages, developing rapidly at 20C

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Hatching success of black sea bass embryo exposed to different pCO2 conditions (modified after Zavell & Baumann 2024)

The new cod – WrackLines article on our Black Sea Bass research

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28 May 2024. The latest issue of Wrack Lines, the in house magazine of Connecticut Sea Grant, just published a nice feature article about our recent and ongoing research on Black Sea Bass in Long Island Sound. Written by Paul Choiniere, the article explains the background and the research in an easy, accessible way, while introducing our lab and its main actors.

Have a read!
(downloads pdf)

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A strong showing at the 47th Larval Fish Conference!

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17 May 2024. Members of our Evolutionary Fish Ecology Lab had a blast attending this years 47th Larval Fish Conference in Huron, OH. Hannes, Emma, Max and alumnus Chris Murray (now at WHOI), went on a road trip from Connecticut to Lake Eerie to present and learn about all things larval fish. On Tuesday morning, the conference crowd enjoyed excursion or recreation options, all the while catching up with good old colleagues and making new connections and friends. A particular achievement: each of us presented research on a different fish species; while Hannes showed the first data emerging from his sabbatical research on Chilean silversides, Emma talked about baby California grunion development. Max presented a poster and two talks, the first about CO2 effects on the onset of schooling in Atlantic silversides and a second one one Black Sea Bass overwintering dynamics. Last, Chris Murray gave a fascinating first look into gene expression data from our most recent sand lance CO2 experiment. All around, a strong showing of our lab!
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Contributions from our lab to the 47th Larval Fish Conference in Huron, OH

  • Baumann, H., Gallardo, A., Gallardo, C., and Urbina, M. 2024. First evidence for countergradient growth variation in the Chilean silverside Odontesthes regia. Oral presentation
  • Siegried, E. and Johnson, D. 2024. Eyes bigger than your stomach: developmental inaccuracy in larval California grunion. Oral presentation.
  • Zavell, M.D., Mouland, M., Barnum, D., Matassa, C., Schultz, E.T., and Baumann, H. 2024. Overwintering dynamics of northern stock Black Sea Bass, Centropristis striata, juveniles. Oral presentation.
  • Zavell, M.D., O'del, J., Mouland, M., Webb, J.F., and Baumann, H. 2024. Ontogeny of larval schooling and effects of ocean acidification in Atlantic Silversides (Menidia menidia). Oral presentation.
  • Murray, C.S., Jones, L., Siegfried, E., Zavell, M.D., Baumann, Z., Wiley, D., Therkildsen, N., Aluru, N., and Baumann, H. 2024. Examining the effect of ocean acidification on hatching enzyme gene expression in Northern sand lance (Ammodytes dubius). Oral presentation.

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Long-time attendees of the LFC happy to meet again (fltr: Pascal Sirois, Dominique Robert, Hannes Baumann, Chris Chambers, Bill Leggett)

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Proud members of the lab at the end of the LFC47

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Extensive fields of water lilies in the Huron River, OH

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A nice break from conference science, kayaking the Huron River

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A very relaxing morning with great weather

Max Zavell defends his PhD thesis!

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18 April 2024. Today we are happy and proud to announce that Max Zavell has successfully defended his dissertation titled "Experimental assessment of ocean warming and acidification effects on multiple life stages of Black Sea Bass, Centropristis striata". A big, heartfelt congratulations from the entire lab!

Max Zavell had started as a PhD student in our lab in fall 2020, and his thesis research broke new ground by working experimentally with Black Sea Bass, a grouper species of great interest because of its recent, explosive increase in abundance in Long Island Sound and the larger northwest Atlantic shelf. Over two fall and winter seasons, Max conducted ambitious long-term rearing experiments on juveniles and adults to study how overwintering could be the key to understand these new dynamics. Now, after only three and a half years, Max has stepped up to the plate and showed his peers and colleagues the fruits of the work.

We were particularly delighted that all this committee members - Profs. Jacqueline Webb (URI), Catherine Matassa (UConn), and Eric Schultz (UConn) - were able to attend in person!

Well done, Max! Your team spirit and unwavering energy will be missed! We wish you all the best for your next career steps!

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On April 18th, Max begins presenting his PhD research at UConn's Department of Marine Sciences

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Done! Max and Hannes savor a moment of pride in the Rankin Lab

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Max Zavell and Matt Mouland, who were a great team in the Rankin Lab and beyond

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Max with Hannes and Prof. Jacqueline Webb from the University of Rhode Island