Of saline and sea lice : hydromineral challenges and osmoregulatory strategies associated with early ocean entry of juvenile pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) ...

Pink salmon (Oncorynchus gorbuscha) enter seawater (SW) following gravel emergence at a body mass of 0.2 g. Two hydromineral challenges associated with this remarkable early ocean entry were investigated: (1) initial exposure to a hyper-osmotic environment and (2) sea louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis)...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sackville, Michael
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: University of British Columbia 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0071106
https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0071106
Description
Summary:Pink salmon (Oncorynchus gorbuscha) enter seawater (SW) following gravel emergence at a body mass of 0.2 g. Two hydromineral challenges associated with this remarkable early ocean entry were investigated: (1) initial exposure to a hyper-osmotic environment and (2) sea louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) parasitism. To survive SW, pink salmon were hypothesized to develop hypo-osmoregulatory abilities as larval alevins prior to natural SW entry as post-larval fry. To test this, alevins and fry were transferred from freshwater (FW) in darkness to SW under a simulated natural photoperiod (SNP). Ionoregulatory status was assessed at 0, 1 and 5 days post-transfer. Alevins showed no evidence of hypo-osmoregulation, marked by a loss of water balance, a 35% increase in body [Cl-], and no change in gill Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase (NKA) activity. Conversely, fry maintained water balance and increased gill NKA activity by 50%. Fry gill NKA activity also increased by 50% following exposure to SNP in FW, providing the first evidence of ...