Meristic and morphometric variation in pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in southern British Columbia and Puget Sound

Abstract

Variation in the number of gill rakers and four morphometric characters was examined for 4 stocks from the even-year brood line and 20 stocks from the odd-year brood line of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in southern British Columbia and Puget Sound. Significant differences in gill-raker frequencies were observed among stocks within each brood line, but differences were greater between the brood lines than within each brood line. Sizes of the morphometric characters standardized to a body length of 419 mm were also variable among stocks within a brood line, but stocks spawning in rivers in the same region in alternate years were more similar morphometrically than to those spawning in different regions. It is suggested that patterns of meristic and morphometric variability are reflective of genetic differences, with meristic variability illustrating the genetic differences between the brood lines, and morphometric variability reflecting adaptation to local water velocity conditions in the streams the stocks return to during spawning.

Experimental microevolution: transplantation of pink salmon into the European North

“…The changes of spawners' body shape are likely reflect the hydrological differences in spawning rivers (Beacham 1985;Fleming and Cross 1989), because the rivers of the White Sea basin differ significantly from the Far Eastern rivers (Gritsevskaya 1965) and tend to have slower flow, the high number of lakes, and larger size of gravel on the spawning sites. Observed shifts in morphological traits are consistent on the whole with those expected based on river characteristics.…”

“…Morphometric scheme included 17 measurements , which were transformed to Huxley indices for the allometric adjustment and standardised to the average fork length of the fish in the combined sample (470 mm for both males and females) as recommended by Beacham (1985). Based on the matrices of the original transformed variables, the principle components analysis (PCA) and the discriminant analysis were performed separately for males and females .…”

Swimming performance and ecomorphology of the Iberian barbel Luciobarbus bocagei (Steindachner, 1864) on permanent and temporary rivers

“…Considering the species' wider distribution across several river basins with distinct natural hydrological and habitat features, there is a need to characterise the basal differences in swimming performance and morphology to understand and improve the generalisation and regional applicability of such studies. Similarly, Beacham (1985) concluded that morphometric variation in pink salmon (Oncorhyncus gorbuscha Walbaum, 1792) reflected adaptation to local water velocity in spawning streams. Many of these authors have suggested that, within a species, morphological features are responsive to local habitat conditions.…”

Relationship between Bioenergetics and Behavior in Anadromous Fish Migrations

“…The exceptionally high aerobic metabolic rate and swimnajing capacity of the sockeye salmon ( Orzcsrhynch~rs nerka ) (Brett 1964(Brett , 1965a(Brett , I965b, 1967 are good examples of physiological traits appropriate for Bong and difficult migrations. Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus kefa) (Beacham 1984) and pink salmon (O~zcor8~~~achus gor-~USC'BZCB) (Beacham 1885) spawning in large rivers have larger heads, fins, and caudal peduncles than do salmon from small rivers, suggesting that water flow velocity leads to morphological adaptations that improve migratory success. River harshness, as measured by the maximum distance that migrants penetrate into freshwater, is known to be correlated with differences in size, age at first reproduction, and date of river entry among populations of Atlantic salmon QSa&rno SCJIC~~ (Schaffer and EBson 1975).…”