Relation between temperature and survival of eggs and first-feeding larvae of northeast Arctic cod (<i>Gadus morhua</i> L.)

<p dir="ltr">The spawning of northeast Arctic cod in the Lofoten area, the abundance and distribution of eggs and first feeding larvae, and their food organisms, copepod nauplii, have been monitored for a series of years. The observation that the year-class strength of northeast Arctic cod, represented by the abundance of three-year old cod, is related to the environmental temperature during the early life stages, is explained. A seasonal constancy of cod spawning, independent of temperature, is demonstrated. The spawning of <i>Calanus finmarchicus</i> varies up to 6 weeks between a cold and warm year. This leads to a mismatch between first-feeding cod larvae and their prey organisms in extreme warm (1960) and cold (1981) years, and a match in years with normal environmental temperatures during the early life stages.</p>