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The Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia) exhibits countergradient latitudinal variation in somatic growth rate along the East Coast of North America. Larvae and juveniles from high‐latitude populations display higher intrinsic rates of energy consumption and growth than genotypes from low‐latitude populations. The existence of submaximal growth in some environments suggests that trade‐offs must counter the oft‐cited theoretical benefits of energy and growth maximization (e.g., “bigger is better,”“faster is better”) in the immature life stages. We hypothesized that energy and growth maximization trades off against investment in defense from predators. We conducted laboratory selection experiments to compare vulnerability to predation of silversides from: (1) fast‐growing northern (Nova Scotia, NS) versus slow‐growing southern (South Carolina, SC) source populations; (2) phenotypically manipulated fast‐growing …