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Life-history strategies of Acrossocheilus fasciatus (Barbinae, Cyprinidae) in the Huishui Stream of the Qingyi watershed, China

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Abstract

Life-history traits of Acrossocheilus fasciatus were examined using 384 specimens collected monthly during May 2009 and April 2010 in the Huishui Stream of the Qingyi watershed, China. Using scales for age determination, female and male fish comprised five and four age groups, respectively. The monthly changes in marginal increment ratio suggested that annuli on scales were formed during March through May. Total lengths back-calculated significantly increased with age for both sexes and varied significantly between the two sexes at each age. The fact that females had larger body size and grew faster than males indicated the sexual size dimorphism for this species. Both sexes got their 50% maturity at age 3, when females and males were 105.3 and 112.1 mm total length, respectively. Based on the monthly changes in the gonado-somatic index and egg-development process, fish spawned from April through August. Absolute fecundity ranged from 295 to 3,573 eggs per fish and increased significantly with age. But relative fecundity, ranging from 11.77 to 69.96 eggs/g, was not significantly different among age groups. Compared with the life-history traits of an upstream population in the Puxi Stream (a headwater stream within this study watershed), the downstream population of A. fasciatus in the Huishui Stream (a 4th-order stream) exhibits larger body size, faster somatic growth, later sexual maturity, and lower reproductive investment. These variations in life-history strategies between the two populations could perhaps be explained by the spatial heterogeneity in habitat environment along the upstream–downstream gradient in this watershed.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB119200), Natural Science Foundation of China (31172120), and Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (090413080). We are grateful to two anonymous referees for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. Our experiments comply with the current laws in China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Provincial Key Laboratory of Biotic Environment and Ecological Safety in Anhui, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, Anhui, 241000, China

    Yun-zhi Yan, Ren Zhu, Shan He & Ling Chu

  2. Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

    Yang-yang Liang & Yi-feng Chen

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  1. Yun-zhi Yan
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  2. Ren Zhu
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  3. Shan He
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  4. Ling Chu
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  5. Yang-yang Liang
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  6. Yi-feng Chen
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Correspondence to Yun-zhi Yan.

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Yan, Yz., Zhu, R., He, S. et al. Life-history strategies of Acrossocheilus fasciatus (Barbinae, Cyprinidae) in the Huishui Stream of the Qingyi watershed, China. Ichthyol Res 59, 202–211 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-012-0271-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-012-0271-5

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