EARLY THERMAL EXPERIENCE HAS DIFFERENT EFFECTS ON GROWTH AND MUSCLE FIBRE RECRUITMENT IN SPRING- AND AUTUMN-RUNNING ATLANTIC

• Main Author: Salmon Populations
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: Dee; Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.321.7726; http://jeb.biologists.org/content/203/17/2553.full.pdf

The consequence of early thermal experience for subsequent growth patterns was investigated in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Spring- and autumn-running salmon were caught in upland (Baddoch) and lowland (Sheeoch) tributaries of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, respectively, on the final stages of their spawning migrations. The eggs were incubated at the simulated natural temperature regime of each stream, which was on average 2.8 °C lower for the Baddoch. The offspring, representing 11 families per population, were transferred at first feeding to constant environmental conditions (12–14 °C; 16 h:8 h light:dark photoperiod) and reared in replicate tanks. Salmon of both populations were longer and heavier at 6 and 12 weeks in fish initially reared under the cooler Baddoch regime. Length frequency distributions