Offspring investment in wild Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar): relationships with smolt age and spawning condition

• Published in: Ecology of Freshwater Fish
• Main Authors: Burton, Tim, McKelvey, Simon, Stewart, Dave C., Armstrong, John D., Metcalfe, Neil B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2012
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eff.12019; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Feff.12019; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/eff.12019

Abstract We investigated the independent effects of age at smolting and body condition at the time of spawning on egg production by female A tlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ). For a given body size, female salmon that had smolted as juveniles after 2 years in fresh water produced smaller, more numerous eggs than females that smolted 1 year later. Furthermore, fecundity (but not egg size) was related positively to maternal body condition at spawning. Given that age at smolting is closely related to juvenile growth rate; results from this study suggest that conditions experienced by female A tlantic salmon during both early life and adulthood have implications for the size and number of eggs that they produce.