Abstract.At different temperatures (4.5, 6.0, 8.6, 10.4, 13.5, 15.9 and 19.0°C), time from hatching to exogenous feeding (DEP50) in vendace,Coregonus albula(L.), larvae decreased from 8 to 2 days when the temperature increased from 4‐5 to 19 0°C. Starved larvae at 10.4°C, when offered food at successive days after acclimation to different temperatures, started external feeding on the same day, irrespective of the acclimation temperature.Larvae started exogenous feeding after attaining a particular larval development stage (LDS 1‐2), while their age (days after hatching) was of secondary significance. In the vendace population the larvae start exogenous (mixed) feeding at a total length of 9.5 mm, irrespective of their age and rearing temperature. As total length of larvae is closely related to their development stage, the length of fish can be used in a hatchery practice as a parameter indicative of the time of the first feeding of larvae or of their release into the stocked