Abstract: Parental effect refers to the effects of parental phenotype or environmental factors they experienced, instead of the genotype, on the phenotypic difference or adaptability of offsprings, which is ecologically important for the maintenance and improvement of offspring’s fitness. To explore the impacts of parental effects on the plasticity of embryo development of zebrafish (Danio rerio), the effects of parental reproduction and embryo incubation temperature (22 and 28 ℃), and their interactions on the hatching performances (hatching rate, embryo mortality, deformation rate of newly hatched fry, hatching duration, initial hatching time and final hatching time) were determined using a 2×2 twofactor design. The results showed that the interaction between parental reproduction and embryo incubation temperature had significant impacts on embryo mortality, initial hatching time, final hatching time, and hatching duration (P<0.05). Embryos had lower mortality and shorter hatching duration when the parental reproduction temperature was consistent with the embryo incubation temperature. The results suggest that zebrafish hatching performance is affected by both parental effects (intergenerational developmental plasticity) and offspring developmental environment (intra generational developmental plasticity). Parental effects play an important role in shaping the phenotypic characteristics of fish in the early life history stage.

Key words: temperature, parental effect, phenotypic plasticity, embryo incubation, Danio rerio.