Evolutionary assembly rules for fish life histories

We revisit the empirical equation of Gislasonet al.(2010,Fish and Fisheries11:149–158) for predicting natural mortality (M, year−1) of marine fish. We show it to be equivalent to , whereL∞(cm) andK(year−1) are the von Bertalanffy growth equation (VBGE) parameters, andL(cm) is fish length along the growth trajectory within the species. We then interpretKin terms of the VBGE in mass , and show that the previous equation is itself equivalent to a −⅓ power function rule betweenMand the mass at first reproduction (Wα); this new −⅓ power function emerges directly from the life history that maximizes Darwinian fitness in non‐growing populations. We merge thisM,Wαpower function with other power functions to produce general across‐species scaling rules for yearly reproductive allocation, reproductive effort and age at first reproduction in fish. We then suggest a new way to classify habitats (or lifestyles) as to the life histories they should contain, and we contrast our scheme with the widely used Winemiller–Rose fish lifestyle classification.