Patterns in Growth and Smolting of Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar ) Parr

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• Main Authors: Evans, Geoffrey T., Rice, Jake C., Chadwick, E. Michael P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1984
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Western Arm; Western Arm Brook; Atlantic salmon; Newfoundland; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f84-091; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f84-091

A simple model of growth and smolting of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) parr in Western Arm Brook (northern Newfoundland) can account for the distributions of ages and lengths of random samples of sea-run smolts collected over 10 yr. The parameters of the model determine growth rate, survival rate, and the length that a parr must attain to smolt at age 3 or 4. The parameters are specific to a year-class, not a calendar year, and vary between year-classes. To account for the observed patterns, it is necessary to assume that the criterion length for smolting is different for age 3 and age 4 parr. The variation between year-classes is as great for the criterion length for an age 3 smolt as for the expected length of an age 3 parr, and similarly for age 4. The best estimate of survival rate generally does not vary between year-classes.