Ecomorphological Plasticity of Juvenile Fall-Run Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in Perennial and Ephemeral Streams

SMC Author

Michael Marchetti

SMC Affiliated Work

1

Status

Faculty

School

School of Science

Department

Biology

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2016

Publication / Conference / Sponsorship

Environmental Biology of Fishes

Description/Abstract

In the Central Valley of California, environmental characteristics differ between perennial and ephemeral stream types and therefore present different challenges for rearing salmonids with respect to water discharge, water temperature, food availability, and habitat complexity. Body shape of juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) reared in a perennial stream environment was compared to juveniles reared in an ephemeral stream environment. Using geometric morphometrics and multivariate analyses, this study presents morphological differences of rearing juvenile Chinook salmon both within and between ephemeral and perennial stream types. We found that shape differences between stream types were primarily associated with expansion of the mid-body region relative to differences in body length. Specifically, juvenile Chinook salmon reared in the ephemeral stream expressed increased body depth dominated by dorsal-ventral elongation of the dorsal, adipose, and anal fins. Eye position and gill opercula-body insertion points also were anteriorly shifted in the juvenile body shape of the ephemeral stream. Our findings support that juvenile Chinook salmon are morphologically flexible and can express habitat-specific developmental differences.

Keywords

Salmon, Ephemeral, Perennial, Geometric morphometrics, Morphological variation

Scholarly

yes

DOI

10.1007/s1064

Volume

99

Issue

1

First Page

67

Last Page

78

Disciplines

Biology

Original Citation

“Ecomorphological plasticity of juvenile fall-run chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in perennial and ephemeral streams,” by Bowen, H.L. and Marchetti, M.P., in Environmental Biology of Fishes, 99(1), pp.67-78; 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s1064

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS