Length of breeding life of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (7) ◽  
pp. 1482-1486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric P. van Den Berghe ◽  
Mart R. Gross

Since Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) die on the breeding grounds after spawning, duration of individual life may affect survival of deposited eggs. In addition, breeding life of both sexes has implications for estimates of size of spawning populations. We therefore examined the contributions of body size, population density, water level, season, and year to length of breeding life in individual coho salmon (O. kisutch). Age 3 breeding males and females lived an average of 9 days (range, 2–30 days), and 2-year-old "jack" males averaged 8 days (range, 2–21 days). Sixteen percent of the variance among age 3 males and 44% of the variance among females could be explained by the variables examined. Density of adults made a significant negative contribution to life-span, while water level, season, and year were insignificant. Body size was the most important variable in explaining breeding life-span, being positively related and accounting for 10% and 36% of the variance in 3-year-old males and females, respectively. In contrast, none of these variables explained the observed variation in jack male breeding life. The differences between the sexes and between 2- and 3-year-old males are consistent with levels of competition on the breeding grounds. We show that the results on individual body size and breeding life span can be used to offset biases in population estimates.

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyla M. Jeffrey ◽  
Isabelle M. Côté ◽  
James R. Irvine ◽  
John D. Reynolds

Body size can sometimes change rapidly as an evolutionary response to selection or as a phenotypic response to changes in environmental conditions. Here, we revisit a classic case of rapid change in body size of five species of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) caught in Canadian waters, with a six-decade analysis (1951–2012). Declines in size at maturity of up to 3 kg in Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and 1 kg in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) during the 1950s and 1960s were later reversed to match or exceed earlier sizes. In contrast, there has been little change in sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) sizes and initial declines in pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) sizes have halted. Biomass of competing salmon species contributed to changes in size of all five species, and ocean conditions, as reflected by the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation and the Multivariate ENSO (El Niño – Southern Oscillation) indices, explained variation in four of the species. While we have identified a role of climate and density dependence in driving salmon body size, any additional influence of fisheries remains unclear.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 1661-1671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrianne P. Smits ◽  
Daniel E. Schindler ◽  
Jonathan B. Armstrong ◽  
Michael T. Brett ◽  
Jackie L. Carter ◽  
...  

Spawning migrations of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) to coastal watersheds provide a rich resource subsidy to freshwater consumers. However, variation in thermal regimes and spawning activity across the landscape constrain the ability of poikilothermic consumers to assimilate eggs and carcasses. We investigated how sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) spawning density and stream temperature affect the growth, body condition, and fatty acid composition of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), a known egg predator, in seven tributaries of the Wood River in Southwest Alaska. We compared mean body size of juvenile coho salmon in late summer among 3–7 years per stream and found that the largest mean size occurred in warm streams in which sockeye salmon spawned, although overall subsidy magnitude (spawner density) had no effect on consumer body size. Individuals that consumed more salmon eggs (estimated from δ15N) were larger and had altered fatty acid composition but did not have higher relative body condition. These results indicate that effects of marine subsidies on freshwater consumers depend both on local habitat conditions and on individual variation in energy allocation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 87 (8) ◽  
pp. 708-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. K. Doctor ◽  
T. P. Quinn

In salmonid fishes, the tendency to return to the natal site for breeding leads to reproductively isolated, locally adapted populations. In addition to this isolation-by-space, the heritability of breeding date can result in temporal segregation or isolation of breeding units. We examined the interaction between breeding location (spatial segregation) and arrival date (temporal segregation) for two fitness-related traits, reproductive life span and body size, of sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum in Artedi, 1792)) in a small Alaskan stream. Analysis of data on tagged individuals over 9 years revealed that both males and females arriving early to the spawning grounds tended to spawn farther upstream than those arriving later, demonstrating the potential for segregation in time and space within the population. Both body length and reproductive life span also consistently varied with arrival date. Larger males and females entered the stream before smaller individuals, and individuals of both sexes that arrived early lived longer in the stream than those that arrived later. However, neither reproductive life span nor body size varied significantly with breeding location, indicating that the linkage between spatial and temporal structure in this breeding population is incomplete, and that segregation in time may currently be the dominant component of within-population structure.


2015 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.V. Malysheva

AbstractOzolaimus linstowin. sp. is described from the large intestine ofIguana iguanaLinnaeus, 1758 from Mexico. The present species can be easily distinguished fromO. megatyphlonandO. cirratusby the presence of a long and slender pharynx not divided into sections, more similar to the remaining two species,O. monhysteraandO. ctenosauri. Ozolaimus linstowin. sp. can be differentiated fromO. monhysteraby the shorter spicule length and smaller body size of both males and females. Males ofO. linstowin. sp. are morphologically close to those ofO. ctenosauri, but females possess a markedly smaller body size and differ in the organization of the oral cuticular armature. Adult males ofO. linstowin. sp. bear some characteristic features of the J3 juvenile morphology in terms of the cuticular organization of the oral and buccal capsule. Phylogenetic analysis ofO.linstowin. sp. using partial small subunit (SSU) and D2–D3 large subunit (LSU) rDNA shows relationships with several Oxyuridae genera.


1966 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 639-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. C. Smith

AbstractThe weight and size of coccinellid adults varied with species, sex, and feeding. Intraspecies variation in weight was generally similar in the eight species studied. Females were more variable than males in body size. Females of some species were heavier and larger than males, and species can be classified on a basis of difference in the weight and size of the sexes.An increase in the food supply after a period of food scarcity affected the sex ratio, as the minimum food requirement of females was greater than males. Females increased in weight more rapidly than males after feeding. The availability of food in the field affected the weight and size of some species. Adult water content was influenced by feeding but not by sex or the quantity of food given to the larva.Males were more abundant in species with small sexual differences in weight and size. The degree of difference in weight and size between males and females may be used as a criterion to select species that are best adapted to survive when food is scarce.


1962 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 919-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Tsuyuki ◽  
E. Roberts ◽  
R. E. A. Gadd

The muscle myogens and other components of the spring salmon (O. tshawytscha), chum salmon (O. keta), coho salmon (O. kisutch), and sockeye salmon (O. nerka), as well as the lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus), were separated by the use of diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) cellulose columns. Significant amounts of slowly dialyzable inosine and inosinic acid which may lead to spurious peaks in moving-boundary electrophoretic separations have been shown to be present in the muscle myogen preparations. The basic differences in the muscle myogen components of the Pacific salmon and the lingcod are compared.


2017 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A Parkinson ◽  
Chris J Perrin ◽  
Daniel Ramos-Espinoza ◽  
Eric B Taylor

The Coho Salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is one of seven species of Pacific salmon and trout native to northeastern Pacific Ocean watersheds. The species is typically anadromous; adults reproduce in fresh water where juveniles reside for 1–2 years before seaward migration after which the majority of growth occurs in the ocean before maturation at 2–4 years old when adults return to fresh water to spawn. Here, we report maturation of Coho Salmon in two freshwater lakes on the north coast of British Columbia apparently without their being to sea. A total of 15 mature fish (11 males and four females) were collected in two lakes across two years. The mature fish were all at least 29 cm in total length and ranged in age from three to five years old. The occurrence of Coho Salmon that have matured in fresh water without first going to sea is exceedingly rare in their natural range, especially for females. Such mature Coho Salmon may represent residual and distinct breeding populations from those in adjacent streams. Alternatively, they may result from the ephemeral restriction in the opportunity to migrate seaward owing to low water levels in the spring when Coho Salmon typically migrate to sea after 1–2 years in fresh water. Regardless of their origin, the ability to mature in fresh water without seaward migration may represent important adaptive life history plasticity in response to variable environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 220-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.V. Watkins ◽  
G. Blouin-Demers

Determining the factors that influence parasite load is a fundamental goal of parasitology. Body size often influences parasite load in reptiles, but it is unclear whether higher levels of parasitism are a result of greater surface area of individuals (a function of size) or of longer periods of exposure to parasites (a function of age). Using skeletochronology in a wild population of Clark’s Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus clarkii Baird and Girard, 1852), we tested the hypotheses that (i) larger individuals have higher parasite loads due to increased surface area available for colonization by parasites and their vectors and that (ii) older individuals have higher parasite loads because they have had longer exposure to parasites and their vectors. Males harboured more ectoparasites than females. Males and females differed in how body size influenced chigger (Acari: Trombiculidae) load; larger males harboured more chiggers than smaller males, but this was not the case in females. Age did not affect ectoparasite load in either sex. These results emphasize the importance of disentangling the effects of size and age in models of parasitism to gain a clearer understanding of intraspecific variation in parasite load.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Olav Hogstad ◽  
Tore Slagsvold

The Willow Tit Poecile montanus is highly sedentary and breeding pairs remain in their exclusive areas throughout the year. During the winter, these areas are defended by small, non-kin flocks, formed as the roaming yearlings become sedentary and join adults during late summer and autumn. Once established, stable social hierarchies are maintained in these flocks during the winter. The winter flocks consist normally of the socially dominant adult mated pair and two mated juvenile pairs, one higher-ranked and one lower-ranked. Individually colour-ringed juvenile Willow Tits were followed over years in subalpine forest in Norway from ringing in the autumn till they disappeared. None of the lower ranked birds survived their first winter, whereas only 4 of 71 higher-ranked juvenile pairs disappeared during this time. Half of the 71 pairs survived their first winter, about 25 % survived two winters, 8.5% survived three winters, and 5.6% survived four winters. Survival was similar for males and females. Alpha pairs remained mated and defended their common territory across years. Maximum age as revealed by ringing showed one female became six years old and two males ringed as adults were at least nine years old when last observed. The main factor associated with survival was early flock establishment that led to a high rank position among the juvenile flock members. Body size seemed insignificant. Birds that survived their first winter either succeeded to establish as territory owners or they were forced into the role as floaters and probably perished.


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