Effect of salinity and temperature on the growth of yearling Arctic cisco ( Coregonus autumnalis) of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Fechhelm, R. G., Fitzgerald, P. S., Bryan, J. D., Gallaway, B. J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1993
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic cisco; Beaufort Sea; Coregonus autumnalis
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1993.tb00581.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.1993.tb00581.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1993.tb00581.x

The growth of 1‐year‐old Arctic cisco ( Coregonus autumnalis ) was monitored under laboratory conditions for fish acclimated to one of two temperatures (5 and 10° C) and one of five salinities (6, 12, 18,24, 30‰). Fish were maintained for 43 days at rations of 3% wet body weight per day at 5° C and 5% wet body weight per day at 10° C, with rations adjusted for weight gain every 7–12 days. Fish increased 9–11% in length and 55–71% in weight at 5° C, and 23–27% in length and 141–161% in weight at 10° C. Length and weight increased linearly over 43 days. There was a statistically significant effect of temperature on growth but no statistically significant effect of salinity. Higher growth rates at 10° C were partially attributable to significantly greater gross conversion efficiency at the higher temperature. Over the course of the experiment, the condition (weight per unit length) of all fish increased by 3·2 to 63·6% at 5° C and by 5·6 to 46·0% at 10° C. There was no discernible effect of salinity on condition at either temperature. These results demonstrate that, with salinity acclimation and high food ration, 1‐year‐old Arctic cisco can grow at equivalent rates across salinities ranging from 6 to 30‰. The ecological implications of the results are discussed.