Juveniles of pink and chum salmon in fall season (September-October 2013) in the western Bering Sea. Distribution, feeding, and strategy of growth

Abstract

Ontogeny of one generation of pink and chum salmons is described for the period after the juveniles redistribution from coastal waters to deep-water areas in the western Bering Sea in September-October, 2013. They fed intensively; their diet included hyperiids, pteropods and young euphausiids, i.e. the protein food with low lipid content and low caloricity. They spend only 20 % of their consumption for growth because of decreasing of the growth rate with body size increasing and significant energy expenditure for moving activity. Chemical composition of the juveniles tissues was almost the same for both species, the muscle tissue was distinguished by low fat content, without interspecies differences. So, fat accumulation doesn’t occur at this stage of ontogeny, the whole energy obtained from food is spent for moving, linear growth and metabolism.