Effect of ectoparasite infestation density and life-history stages on the swimming performance of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar

• Published in: Aquaculture Environment Interactions
• Main Authors: Bui, Samantha, Dempster, Timothy David, Remen, Mette, Oppedal, Frode
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Inter-Research 2016
• Subjects: VDP::Landbruks- og fiskerifag: 900::Fiskerifag: 920::Fiskehelse : 923; VDP::Agriculture and fisheries science: 900::Fisheries science: 920::Fish health: 923; Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2414482; https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00184

- To overcome sustainability obstacles and improve operations, the Atlantic salmon farming industry is testing novel approaches to production. Redistributing farm sites to offshore locations is one such solution; however, tolerance to high-current velocity sites must be considered, particularly if fish health status is compromised by parasites. We tested the effect of parasite density and life-history stage on the swimming performance of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar using a swim flume. Salmon with 3 different salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis densities (0, 0.02 ± 0.01 and 0.11 ± 0.01 lice cm-2 [mean ± SE]) were tested across the 4 major life-history stages of lice (copepodid, chalimus, pre-adult and adult) for critical swimming performance (Ucrit). Salmon Ucrit declined slightly by a mean of 0.04 to 0.10 body lengths s-1 with high parasite densities compared to uninfested and low densities, across the lice stages, while progression through the parasite life-history stages had little effect on swimming performance. Our results suggest that increasing infestation density of salmon lice incurs negative fitness consequences for farmed Atlantic salmon held in high-current velocity sites, with little difference in costs associated with attachment by different life-history stages of the lice.