Exposure to a common environment erodes inherited between‐population trophic morphology differences in Arctic charr

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Alexander, G. D., Adams, C. E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2004
• Subjects: Arctic charr; Salvelinus alpinus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2004.00276.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.2004.00276.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2004.00276.x

Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus juveniles reared from eggs collected from four Scottish populations showed inherited variation in their expression of trophic morphology, measured as a suite of eight characteristics of the head and mouth, before their first exogenous feeding. This demonstrated a genetic component to trophic morphology expression. During a period of 5 months following first feeding, typified by rapid growth, the differential between groups exposed to a common rearing and feeding environment was reduced significantly. It was concluded that this was the result of common environmental exposure acting on phenotypic plasticity in trophic morphology.