Phenotypic Divergence of Sea-ranched, Farmed, and Wild Salmon

Abstract

We quantified divergence in phenotype of sea-ranched, farmed, and wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) of a common genetic stock (River Imsa, Norway). These first-generation fish were also contrasted with a fifth-generation farmed population (Norwegian commercial strain) and with wild and multigeneration sea-ranched populations of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). In comparisons using mature Atlantic salmon male parr, cultured juveniles had smaller heads and fins and narrower caudal peduncles and could be distinguished from wild juveniles with 100% accuracy. When juveniles were reared to adulthood in the natural marine environment, some environmentally induced differences due to juvenile hatchery rearing persisted but many disappeared. This was particularly true for head and trunk morphology. Greater adult divergence from the wild state was observed in multigeneration sea-ranched coho salmon, suggesting that evolutionary changes may accumulate with time. Continued farming of salmon juveniles through adulthood increased environmentally induced phenotypic divergence considerably. Both rayed-fin sizes and body streamlining decreased. Fifth-generation Norwegian farmed salmon showed the greatest morphological differences. Both the proportion of a fish's life history and number of generations spent in culture are thus probably important determinants of phenotypic divergence of cultured fish from their wild state.