Comparison of Hatchery Performance Attributes among Three Strains of Age‐0 Coaster Brook Trout

Abstract

The hatchery performance attributes of three strains (Lake Nipigon [Nipigon], Siskiwit Bay [Siskiwit], and Tobin Harbor [Tobin]) of fingerling coaster brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis were compared during a 12‐week laboratory experiment. Despite similar initial sizes, the final mean length and weight of Nipigon fish (94.1 mm and 9.9 g) were significantly greater than those of the Siskiwit (86.7 mm and 7.7 g) and Tobin (90.4 mm and 7.2 g) strains. There were no differences in mean specific growth rates in length and weight or mean daily growth rate in length among the strains. However, there was a difference in the mean daily absolute growth rate in weight, the Nipigon and Siskiwit strains (0.10%/d and 0.08%/d, respectively) displaying a greater rate of growth than Tobin Harbor (0.07%/d) fish. Mean survival rates (range = 97–98%) and relative weights (range = 100.1–101.1 g) did not differ significantly among the three strains. Based on our results, we recommend that these strains of fingerling coaster brook trout be reared similarly in hatchery environments and that strain selection for rehabilitation stocking purposes consider hatchery residence time and the natural genetic variation of the source population of broodstock fish.

Comparison of growth physiology, morphology, and smolt indicators in juvenile Lake Superior brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) strains in reference to life history variation

“…In comparison, studies of wild brook trout (Morinville and Rasmussen 2003;Thériault and Dodson 2003) and brown trout (Forseth et al 1999) showed that migrants have higher energy consumption than their resident counterparts, but show no difference in growth rate. Also in our study, NIP had larger initial masses and lengths than all other strains, which is similar to results of Volkman et al (2004), who also found that age 0 NIP exhibited more growth in length and mass than both SIS and TBH, without differences in W r , using similar laboratory conditions. This study also demonstrated that morphological differences can be detected between Lake Superior basin brook trout strains; however, morphological traits associated with smoltification and open water habitats were not consistently seen in the adfluvial and lacustrine strains.…”

Movement and growth indicators in resident and adfluvial coaster brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in the Hurricane River, Lake Superior, Michigan, USA

“…Option I (Inherent Energetic Hypothesis) hinges on inherent differences between individual brook trout where one group (the coasters) has a different growth potential than the other (residents). Support for this hypothesis comes from Volkman et al (2004) where growth differences were demonstrated between commonly reared coaster brook trout strains, although their results were confounded by population differences among life history variants. The Inherent Energetic Hypothesis posits that even as juveniles in the natal stream these metabolic differences would be present as suggested for anadromous brook trout (Morinville and Rasmussen, 2003).…”

Conservation of population structure and genetic diversity under captive breeding of remnant coaster brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations

“…Studies using mtDNA (BurnhamCurtis 1996), and life history differences exhibited in the wild (Newman et al 1999;Quinlan et al 1999) and the hatchery (Volkman et al 2004), support this program goal. We found a moderately large F st between the strains (TH01W-SB01 W F st = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.08-0.19) and between each strain and the RC strain (TH01W-RC F st = 0.20, 0.09-0.33; SB01W-RC F st = 0.29, 0.12-0.50), confirming population differentiation.…”