History and Scope of the Larval Fish Conferences

The Early Life History Section (ELHS) is an interest-discipline subunit of the American Fisheries Society with an international membership of over 400 scientists. It is the only organisation of this kind devoted to interests in the early life history of freshwater, estuarine, and marine fishes, and related matters. Through its newsletter, Stages, and now its web page, the AFS’s ELHS encourages and facilitates exchange of knowledge and ideas, updates members on current research, publications, meetings and other events, provides feature articles and reviews and communicates Section and pertinent AFS business and concerns.

The annual Larval Fish Conferences (LFC) that serve as the focal point of ELHS activities evolved from a series of informal, freshwater-oriented, symposia that began in 1977.

The current LFCs, which are hosted and sponsored by various organisations throughout the world, cover the complete spectrum of research (from all habitats and geographic locations) related to fish early life history.

A list of all the LFCs can be found on the ELHS web page. The dates, locations, host institutions and publications resulting from these meetings are all available.