Parental senescence effects in a short-lived fish

Senescence is age-related decline that may carry over to subsequent generations. Advanced parental age can both improve or reduce offspring fitness, however. Identification of mechanisms of parental effects senescence thus proved challenging so far. We investigated the effects of old parental age on offspring performance in a laboratory short-lived fish, Nothobranchius furzeri (Cyprinodontiformes). We followed age-related changes in parents and then focused on the effect of parental age on key offspring life-history traits (embryonic survival, hatching rate and juvenile growth). We employed telomere length as a senescence marker and a potential route for transmitting senescence effects from parents to the offspring. As parents aged, their body condition, reproductive output, and telomere length declined. Offspring of older parents showed lower survival and hatching rate. In contrast, old parental age did not compromise juvenile growth and telomere length of the successfully hatched offspring. This, among other things, resulted in decoupling of parent-offspring telomere length. Our study highlights the sensitivity of the early life-stages to old parental age in contrast to offspring post-hatching performance.