Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evidence for Two Morphotypes of Lake Charr, Salvelinus Namaycush, from Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

  • Published:
Environmental Biology of Fishes Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The lake charr, Salvelinus namaycush, is generally characterized as a morphologically stable specialized deepwater piscivore. Empirical observations suggested the existence of two or more morphotypes of lake charr in Great Bear Lake, NWT. I gathered morphological data over two seasons from a total of 72 individuals and used principal components analysis to summarize variation in the dataset. UPGMA classification showed that there were two groups in the dataset. I classified individuals into one of two morphotypes using discriminant function analysis. The two forms differed primarily in head proportions. I developed a function, usable in the field, that classifies 80% of all specimens correctly. This study represents one of the first documentations of sympatric morphotypes of lake charr outside the Laurentian Great Lakes and provides the basis for further investigation into origins of and genetic, morphological and ecological differences between the forms.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alekseyev, S. S., V. P. Samusenok, A. N. Matveev & M. Y. Pi-chugin. 2002. Diversi cation, sympatric speciation, and tro-phic polymorphism of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus complex, in Transbaikalia. Environ. Biol. Fish. 64:97–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balon, E. K. (ed. )1980. Charrs:Salmonid Fishes of the Genus Salvelinus, Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Hague. 925 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Behnke, R. J. 1972. The systematics of salmonid shes of re-cently glaciated lakes. J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 29:639–671.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernatchez, L. & J. J. Dodson. 1994. Phylogenetic relationships among Palearctic and Nearctic White sh (Coregonus sp. ) populations as revealed by mitochondrial DNA variation. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 51(suppl. 1):240–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackie, C. T., D. J. Weese & D. L. G. Noakes. 2003. Evidence for resource polymorphism in the lake charr (Salvelinus namay-cush )population of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. Écoscience 10:410–415.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourque, P., P. Magnan & M. Rodriguez. 1997. Individual variations in habitat use and morphology in brook charr. J. Fish Biol. 51:783–794.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bronte, C. R. 1993. Evidence of spring spawning lake trout in Lake Superior. J. Great Lakes Res. 19:625–629.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, E. H. Jr., G. W. Eck, N. R. Foster, R. M. Horral & C. E. Coberly. 1981. Historical evidence for discrete stocks of lake trout, (Salvelinus namaycush )in Lake Michigan. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38:1747–1758.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham-Curtis, M. K. 1993. Intralacustrine speciation of Salvelinus namaycush in Lake Superior:an investigation of genetic and morphological variation and evolution of lake trout in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.} 268 pp.

  • Burnham-Curtis, M. K. & G. R. Smith. 1994. Osteological evidence of genetic divergence of lake trout (Salvelinus namay-cush )in Lake Superior. Copeia 4:843–850.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossman, E. J. & D. E. McAllister. 1987. Zoogeography of fresh-water shes of the Hudson Bay drainage, Ungava Bay and the Arctic Archipelago. pp. 53–104. In:C. H. Hocutt & E. O. Wiley (eds. ), The Zoogeography of North American Freshwater Fishes. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossman, E. J. & B. Cudmore-Vokey. 2000. Checklists of the Fish Fauna of the Laurentian Great Lakes and their Con-necting Channels. Canadian Manuscript Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 2550. 39 pp.

  • Dehring, T. R., A. F. Brown, C. H. Daugherty & S. R. Phelps. 1981. Survey of the genetic variation among eastern Lake Superior lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush ). Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38:1738–1746.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorschner, M. O., T. Duris, C. R. Bronte, M. K. Burnham-Curtis & R. B. Phillips. 2000. High levels of allelic diversity at the Mhc Class II B1 locus in lake trout (Salvelinus namay-cush )from Lake Superior. J. Hered. 91:359–363.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eschmeyer, P. H. & A. M. Phillips. 1965. Fat content of sis-cowets and lake trout from Lake Superior. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 94:62–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodier, J. L. 1981. Native lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush ) stocks in the Canadian waters of Lake Superior prior to 1955. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 38:1724–1737.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grewe, P. M. & P. D. N. Hebert. 1988. Mitochondrial DNA diversity among broodstocks of the lake trout Salvelinus namaycush. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 45:2114–2122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubbs, C. L. 1929. The shes. pp. 153–164. In:A. Other (ed. ). The Book of Huron Mountain. Huron Mountain Club.

  • Hubbs, C. L. & K. F. Lagler. 1964. Fishes of the Great Lakes Region. Ambassador Books Ltd., Toronto. 213 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphries, J. M., F. L. Brookstein, B. Cherno., G. R. Smith, R. L. Elder & S. G. Poss. 1981. Multivariate discrimination by shape in relation to size. Syst. Zool. 30:291–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ihssen, P. E., J. M. Casselman & G. W. Martin. 1988. Biochemical genetic di. erentiation of lake trout (Salvelinus namay-cush )stocks of the Great Lakes region. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 45:1018–1029.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, L. 1966. Great Bear Lake. Can. Geogr. 86:1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, L. 1975a. Physical and chemical characteristics of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories. J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 32:1971–1987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, L. 1975b. Distribution of sh species in Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, with reference to zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and environmental conditions. J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 32:1989–2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonsson, B. & N. Jonsson. 2001. Polymorphism and speciation in Arctic charr. J. Fish Biol. 58:605–638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, N. Y. & S. U. Qadri. 1970. Morphological differences in Lake Superior lake char. J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 27:161–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan, N. Y. & S. U. Qadri. 1971. Intra specific variations and postglacial distribution of lake char (Salvelinus namaycush ).J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 28:465–467.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loftus, K. H. 1957. Studies on river-spawning populations of lake trout in eastern Lake Superior. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 87:259–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, N. V. & C. H. Olver. 1980. The lake charr, Salvelinus namaycush. pp. 205–280 In:E. K. Balon (ed. ). Charrs, sal-monid shes of the genus Salvelinus. Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Hague, The Netherlands. 928 pp.

  • McAllister, D. E. & B. W. Coad. 1974. Fishes of Canada 's National Capital Region/Poissons de la région de la capitale du Canada. Fish. Res. Board Canada Misc. Special Publ. 24:1–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, R. B. 1947. Great Bear Lake. pp. 31–44. In:A. Other (ed. ), Northwest Canadian Fisheries Surveys in 1944–1945.</del>Fisheries Research Board of Canada Bulletin 72.

  • Miller, R. B. & W. A. Kennedy. 1948. Observations on the lake trout of Great Bear Lake. J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 7:176–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, S. A. & C. R. Bronte. 2001. Delineation of sympatric morphotypes of lake trout in Lake Superior. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 130:1233–1240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patalas, K. 1975. The crustacean plankton communities of fourteen North American great lakes. Int. Assoc. Theor. Appl. Limnol. 19:504–511.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, R. B. & P. E. Ihssen. 1986. Stock structure of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush )from the Great Lakes region as determined by chromosomes and isozyme markers. Great Lakes Fishery Commission Project Completion Report. 21 pp.

  • Pigeon, D., A. Chouinard & L. Bernatchez. 1997. Multiple modes of speciation involved in the parallel evolution of sympatric types of lake white sh (Coregonus clupeaformis, Salmonidae). Evolution 51:196–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qadri, S. U. 1967. Morphological comparison of three populations of the lake char, Cristivomer namaycush, from Ontario and Manitoba. J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 24:1407–1411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reist, J. D. 1985. An empirical evaluation of several univariate methods that adjust for size variation in morphometric data. Can. J. Zool. 63:1429–1439.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reist, J. D. 1986. An empirical evaluation of coe. cients used in residual and allometric adjustment of size covariation. Can. J. Zool. 64:1363–1368.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reist, J. D., E. Gyselman, J. A. Babaluk, J. D. Johnson & R. Wissink. 1995. Evidence for two morphotypes of Arctic charr, (Salvelinus alpinus (L. ))from Lake Hazen, Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories, Canada}. Nordic J. Freshwater Res. 71:396–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, B. W., D. S. Wilson, A. S. Margosian & P. T. Lotito. 1993. Ecological and morphological differentiation of pumkin-seed sun sh in lakes without bluegill sun sh. Evol. Ecol. 7:451-464

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, B. W. & D. S. Wilson. 1994. Character release and displacement in shes:a neglected literature. Am. Nat. 144: 596–627.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. B. 1954. Freshwater Fishes of Eastern Canada. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Ont. 128 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. B. & E. J Crossman. 1973. Freshwater shes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada. Bulletin 184, 966pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skúlason, S., S. S. Snorrason & B. Jónsson. 2001. Sympatric morphs, populations and speciation in freshwater sh with emphasis on Arctic charr. pp. 70–92 In:A. Magurran & R. M. May (eds. ), Evolution of Biological Diversity, Oxford University Press.

  • Snorrason, S., S. Skúlason, S. Sandlund, O. T. Malmquist, H. J. Jonsson & P. M. Jónasson. 1989. Shape polymorphism in Arctic char, Salvelinus alpinus, in Thingvallavatn, Iceland. Physiology and Ecology Japan, Special Volume 1:393–404.

    Google Scholar 

  • Speers, L. I. 1985. A morphological, meristic and electropho-retic investigation of six allopatric lake charr (Salvelinus na-maycush )populations from Algonquin Park, Ont.} M. Sc. Thesis, Carleton University. 113 pp.

  • Taylor, E. B. 1999. Species pairs of north temperate freshwater shes:evolution, taxonomy, and conservation. Rev. Fish Biol. Fish. 9:299–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toline, C. A. & A. J. Baker. 1993. Foraging tactic as a potential selection pressure in. uencing geographic di. erences in body shape among populations of dace (Phoxinus eos ). Can. J. Zool. 71:2178–2184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, C. C. & P. D. N. Hebert. 1998. Phylogeography and postglacial dispersal of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush ) in North America. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 55:1010–1024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yaremchuk, G. C. B. 1986. Results of a nine year study (1972-1980)of the sport shing exploitation of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush )on Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes, NWT:the nature of the resource and management options. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 1436. 80 pp.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Services Division, Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443, Station ‘D’, Ottawa, Ont., Canada, K1P 6P4

    Noel R. Alfonso

Authors
  1. Noel R. Alfonso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Alfonso, N.R. Evidence for Two Morphotypes of Lake Charr, Salvelinus Namaycush, from Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. Environmental Biology of Fishes 71, 21–32 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:EBFI.0000043176.61258.3d

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:EBFI.0000043176.61258.3d

Search

Navigation