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Effects of generations in captivity and elevated rearing temperature on Ontario hatchery brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) fry quality and survival

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Abstract

With rising environmental temperatures causing concern for the status of freshwater fishes, captive breeding programs may become increasingly important for conservation efforts as well as to support fisheries. Although captive broodstocks provide reliable gamete sources for production stocking, prolonged generations under hatchery conditions can result in changes to fishes as they acclimate to captive settings (domestication) — for example, reduced plasticity due to homogenous captive environments. We assessed the effects of rearing temperature and number of generations spent in captivity on the survival and quality (indicated by lack of malformations) of long-term (F>25) and newly captive (F1) strains of Ontario hatchery brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) with shared genetic history. Elevated temperatures decreased likelihood of survival between the pre-exogenous feed and emergent fry stages and had a greater impact on fry quality (rate of malformations) on F1 fish compared with F>25 fish, suggesting no reduction in plasticity due to prolonged captivity. However, overall survival between F1 and F>25 fish was not different. The combined effects of elevated rearing temperatures and number of hatchery generations suggest that (selection) changes due to captivity can occur rapidly even under benign conditions and that additive stressor effects of captivity and temperature have the potential to impact newly established strains.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance and contribution of B. Sloan, S. Ferguson, V. Frasca, S. Killam, C. Frank, K. Gammie-Janisse, L. Nguyen-Dang, C. Finherty, and C. Harris, M. Struba to fish husbandry care, data collection, and field work.

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (06768) and Genome Canada’s Genomic Network for Fish Identification, Stress, and Health for funding to C. A. D. Semeniuk.

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Correspondence to Alex Wilder or Christina A. D. Semeniuk.

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This paper has been published online at bioRxiv as a preprint doi: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.01.510397 and has not been published in any other publications.

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The authors declare all research to be completed in compliance with animal care standards and regulations.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Wilder, A., Wilson, C.C., Warriner, T.R. et al. Effects of generations in captivity and elevated rearing temperature on Ontario hatchery brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) fry quality and survival. Environ Biol Fish 107, 275–292 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-024-01528-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-024-01528-z

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