Predation, metabolic priming and early life-history rearing environment affect the swimming capabilities of growth hormone transgenic rainbow trout.

ABSTRACT: The period of first feeding, when young salmonid fishes emerge from natal stream beds, is one fraught with predation risk. Experiments conducted in semi-natural stream mesocosms have shown that growth hormone transgenic salmonids are at greater risk of predation than their non-transgenic siblings, due partly to the higher metabolic demands associated with transgenesis, which force risky foraging behaviours. This raises questions as to whether there are differences in the swim-performance of transgenic and non-transgenic fishes surviving predation experiments. We tested this hypothesis in wild-origin rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that were reared from first feeding in semi-natural stream mesocosms characterized by complex hydrodynamics, the presence of predators and oligotrophic condi

SUBMITTER: Crossin GT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5582106 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature