Responses of Kidney, Liver, Muscle, and Bone in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) to Diet and Liming in Acidic Nova Scotia Rivers

1990 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 2441-2450 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. S. Majewski ◽  
S. B. Brown ◽  
R. E. Evans ◽  
H. C. Freeman ◽  
J. F. Klaverkamp

Two-year old sexually maturing Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were held in the Medway (pH range 5.2–5.6) and WestfieSd (pH range 4.7–5.2) rivers of Nova Scotia for 149 and 126 d respectively, in successive years (1985 and 1986). Exposure to Westfield river water resulted in a depletion of renal and hepatic acid-soluble thiol (AST) and of renal ascorbic acid (AsA) reserves in both years. Liming, or the feeding of a high-salt (3.0% NaCl) diet, failed to maintain completely these reserves at levels found in Medway river salmon. In 1986 declines in bone (Ca and P) and muscle (Na and K) electrolytes were coincidental to elevations in liver glycogen, suggesting that gluconeogenesis was an adaptive mechanism in response to the ionoregulatory effects associated with acidic and low ambient calcium conditions. The addition of lime to Westfield river water restored muscle electrolyte levels, but had no effect on depleted bone Ca and P levels.

1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (11) ◽  
pp. 2078-2086 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frode Kroglund ◽  
Magne Staurnes

Groups of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolts were held 1-13 days in soft water with a pH range of 5.0-6.6, concentrations of labile inorganic monomeric Al (Ali) of 10-90 µg·L-1, and 0.7-2.3 mg Ca·L-1. Fish were exposed to either naturally acidic water from a river in southwestern Norway, limed water from the same river, mixtures of acidic and limed river water, acidic river water with sulfuric acid and Al added, or limed river water with additional lime. Mortality was observed in all groups exposed to water with pH < 5.8 and containing 30-90 µg Ali·L-1. No fish died in water with pH > 5.8 and 15-20 µg Ali·L-1, but fish in water with pH 5.8-6.2 had lower plasma Cl- concentration and gill Na+,K+-ATPase activity than fish in water with pH > 6.5. Smolts exposed to pH < 5.8 were unable to survive in seawater, and smolts exposed to water with pH 5.8-6.2 had lower hypoosmoregulatory capacity than smolts exposed to water with pH > 6.5. These results show that even moderately acidified water with low Al concentrations impairs smoltification and reduces the seawater tolerance of Atlantic salmon smolts.


1990 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 2431-2440 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. B. Brown ◽  
R. E. Evans ◽  
H. S. Majewski ◽  
G. B. Sangalang ◽  
J. F. Klaverkamp

Sexually maturing Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, were held, in the acidic (pH range 4.7–5.2) Westfield River, Nova Scotia and in the nearby, less acidic (pH range 5.2–5.6) Medway River. Exposure to Westfield River water in 1985 (149 d) and 1986 (126 d) reduced plasma osmolality, Na+, Cl−, and Ca++ (in females only) concentrations of post-spawning fish compared to those in fish held in the Medway River. There were coincidental increases in plasma K+, glucose, and unidentified osmotic fraction (UOF). Gill tissue showed hyperplasia of primary lamellae epithelium. Together, these findings indicate compromised ionoregulatory ability. Decreased plasma T3 (3,5,3′-triiodo-L-thyronine) suggests altered thyroid function. Westfield River water did not affect plasma T4(L-thyroxine) or protein concentrations. An unintentional handling stress caused even more severely depressed plasma ions and more elevated plasma glucose in Westfield fish in 1985 relative to 1986; Medway fish largely recovered from this stress. These observations indicate that acid-exposed fish may be more sensitive to additional stressors. Limestone treatment of Westfield River water (elevating its pH to Medway values) ameliorated ionoregulatory ability but did not affect plasma T3 and Ca++ (female). A high salt diet (3% NaCl) failed to protect salmon from the effects of acidic water.


1985 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 768-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles L. Lacroix ◽  
D. James Gordon ◽  
Dana J. Johnston

Postemergent Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were reared during the early feeding phase in the soft, acidic water of the Westfield River (mean pH 5.0) in Nova Scotia. The fry were held in a flow-through system of tanks in situ and were fed a hatchery diet. Bioassays were also conducted in river water treated with limestone (mean pH 6.1) to provide a control. Cumulative mortality of fry after 30 d in the tanks was 70% at pH 5.0 and only 4% at pH 6.1. Fry in untreated river water were inactive, ingested little food, and lost weight (approximately 25%) during the first 15 d of exposure. Large increases in body [Ca2+] and [Na+] were observed in fry at both pH levels during that time, but the increase in [Ca2+] lagged and that in [Na+] was less in fry at low pH. Deaths occurred 15–30 d after swim-up and dead fry were all severely emaciated, indicating that deaths were probably from starvation. Although there were differences in ionic composition changes in fry held at pH 5.0 compared with control, no major depletion of body ionic reserves occurred relative to initial concentrations. Surviving fry at pH 5.0 developed a tolerance after 25 d and had growth rates, condition factors, and ionic concentrations similar to those of fry in treated water. The mortality of fry during the transition to exogenous feeding, in response to low pH stress in soft water, is probably responsible for reduced recruitment and the decline or loss of salmon stocks in this and other acidic rivers of Nova Scotia.


Author(s):  
Shelley K Denny ◽  
Lucia M Fanning

Issues related to fisheries governance are a source of debate and tension between the Indigenous Mi’kmaq people of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in matters concerning Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar. Within the context of the existing governance regime, this analysis compares the concept of salmon conservation and management from a Mi’kmaq perspective and proposes a collaborative co-existence approach for effective salmon governance in Nova Scotia. This approach begins by using co-management as a process, Two-Eyed Seeing as the design, and treaties as the model to achieve shared objectives of maintaining and improving abundances of salmon populations, in spite of differing mechanisms for addressing the interwoven complexities of multiple realities, conservation, and cultural identity.


Aquaculture ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Inge Erdal ◽  
Øystein Evensen ◽  
Ole Kristian Kaurstad ◽  
Atle Lillehaug ◽  
Roar Solbakken ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 1174-1183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian F. Dennis ◽  
Thomas A. Clair

Studies from the 1980s concluded that aluminum (Al) was not a significant contributor to Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) toxicity in Nova Scotia, located on Canada’s Atlantic coast, because of the presence of dissolved organic matter that rendered ionic Al (Ali) biologically inaccessible. Since this earlier work, new interpretations of Ali effects, as well as improved techniques for its measurement, have been developed. However, no new data interpretation has been done to see if the conclusions reached in earlier work for Atlantic Canada were still valid. We sampled 97 salmon rivers from the provinces of New Brunswick (NB), Nova Scotia (NS), and the island of Newfoundland (NF) to determine total and Ali concentrations to see if results exceeded newer toxicity standards established by the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission. We found that southwestern NS, the region with the greatest loss of salmon populations, has seven rivers where autumn Ali values exceed values identified as toxic to aquatic life. A further three rivers exceed guidelines in NF. Our work shows that the sources of toxicity for salmon and other aquatic species in acidified environments are more complex than previously thought.


1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie C Brodeur ◽  
Trine Ytrestøyl ◽  
Bengt Finstad ◽  
R Scott McKinley

Adult Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were exposed for 48 h to water from acidified (pH 5.2) Fossbekk River (Norway), with and without 94 µg aluminium (Al)/L added as AlCl3, and to water from circumneutral (pH 6.7) Ims River (Norway) (controls). Cardiac output, heart rate, and stroke volume were monitored throughout the exposure period with Doppler flow probes placed around the ventral aorta of the fish. Fish exposed to Fossbekk River water without added Al showed few physiological disturbances. When 94 µg Al/L was added to Fossbekk River water, most of the fish died before the end of the 48-h exposure period, and a large elevation in heart rate was observed together with a decrease in plasma chloride concentrations and an increase in haematocrit, plasma glucose and plasma cortisol levels. Cardiac output was maintained at basal levels during the first 24 h of exposure because the tachycardia was accompanied by a concomitant reduction of stroke volume. Signs of arrhythmia appeared after 32 h of exposure and were associated with a further decrease in stroke volume that caused cardiac output to decrease below basal levels. The incapacity of the tachycardia to elevate cardiac output and the subsequent death of the fish suggest that this response to low pH and Al is more of a maladaptation reaction than a compensatory or adaptative reaction.


1988 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 568-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. Montevecchi ◽  
D. K. Cairns ◽  
V. L. Birt

Northern gannets, Sula bassanus, and possibly other seabird species nesting on Funk Island off northeastern Newfoundland preyed on postsmolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar. Salmon comprised less than 1% of 2928 regurgitated food samples collected from gannets at the colony. Ten smolt tags were recovered in and near the gannetry during August or September in 1984 through 1986. The tags were from smolts released 3–4 mo earlier in the Penobscot River (Maine) (n = 7) and one each from the Saint John River (New Brunswick) and the Lower Clyde and LaHave rivers (Nova Scotia). These recoveries provide evidence that postsmolt Atlantic salmon from rivers in New England, the Bay of Fundy, and the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia migrate off eastern Newfoundland This migratory pattern contrasts with that of postsmolts from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which tend to move northwards along Newfoundland's west coast and through the Strait of Belle Isle.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document