Behavioral evidence of olfactory imprinting during embryonic and larval stages in lake sturgeon.

ABSTRACT: Many migratory fishes are thought to navigate to natal streams using olfactory cues learned during early life stages. However, direct evidence for early-life olfactory imprinting is largely limited to Pacific salmon, and other species suspected to imprint show life history traits and reproductive strategies that raise uncertainty about the generality of the salmonid-based conceptual model of olfactory imprinting in fishes. Here, we studied early-life olfactory imprinting in lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), which have a life cycle notably different from Pacific salmon, but are nonetheless hypothesized to home via similar mechanisms. We tested one critical prediction of the hypothesis that early-life olfactory imprinting guides natal homing in lake sturgeon: that exposure to odor

SUBMITTER: Kimmel JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10317470 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature