Developmental stability and heterozygosity in chum (Oncorhynchus keta) and pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) salmon

Abstract

We compared developmental stability as measured by fluctuating asymmetry within individual adults for gill raker and branchiostegal ray number and pectoral and pelvic fin length for three populations of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) and one of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha). There was no association between individual heterozygosity calculated at 10 electrophoretic loci for chum salmon and 13 loci for pink salmon and magnitude of fluctuating asymmetry for the four morphological characters examined. More heterozygous individuals were not less asymmetrical, and thus our results provide no evidence to suggest that increased heterozygosity results in an increased canalization of morphology during development and growth.