Influence of host fish age on a mussel parasite differs among rivers: Implications for conservation

Unionoid mussels are obligate parasites on one or more fish species. The objective was to compare growth and survival of encysted mussel larvae of the freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) on young-of-the-year (YOY) versus one-year old brown trout (Salmo trutta). YOY and one-year old trout from the Brattefors and Lärje Rivers, Sweden, were infested with mussel larvae from their home river. The mass-normalized encystment abundance was higher on YOY trout than on one-year old trout. The proportional decrease in mass-normalized encystment abundance was larger on YOY brown trout from the Brattefors River than on YOY brown trout from the Lärje River. Encystment per individual fish was higher on YOY trout than on one-year old trout from the Brattefors River, whereas this relationship was reversed for trout from the Lärje River. Larval growth was higher on YOY trout than on one-year old trout. There was a larger difference in larval growth between YOY trout and one-year old trout from the Brattefors River than on the brown trout from the Lärje River. The ability to use both YOY and older fish, such as in the Lärje River, may increase the reproduction potential of mussel populations, compared to a reduced ability to use more than one year class, such as in the Brattefors River. This may also affect the dispersal of mussels, as older brown trout often move and migrate to a higher degree within and between rivers. The dispersal potential of mussels may therefore be relatively high in the Lärje River, but low in the Brattefors River. In rivers where the mussels have to rely on YOY brown trout, it could be worth facilitating passage through migration obstacles for YOY brown trout. Infested YOY brown trout could be artificially re-distributed within rivers, to places with former mussel distributions. It could also be worth testing the suitability of brown trout of different age classes when starting breeding programs.     

Field observations on the production of rainbow trout(Oncorhynchus mykiss) under high concentrations of water-borne iron

Effluents from brown coal mines are frequently rich in iron, the water being red-brown in colour and turbid. For several years a fish farm in the Lusatia (Brandenburg, Germany) has used such mine effluents for rearing rainbow trout. The total iron content of this water varies between 5 and 10 mg/l with pH ranging from 6.7 to 7.4. Water turbidity is high with a transparency of 10 to 40 cm at the most due to the substantial ferric hydroxide concentrations. Until 1989 trout have been reared in net cages within concrete settling basins destined for settling the ferric hydroxide mud. The cages were stocked with fingerlings in autumn, reaching portion size in the spring of the following year. Specific growth rate was 0.98% per day, comparable to that of trout in another farm unpolluted by iron but stocked at higher densities. The results show that fingerling rainbow trout may live in water containing more than 5 mg/l total iron but in the absence of Fe²⁺. These concentrations of water-borne iron seem to have only a limited detrimental effect on fish growth and feed conversion and do not prevent trout culture in principle.     

Markierungsversuche an Bach- und Regenbogenforellen im Bodensee als Beitrag zur systematischen Eingliederung von Forellen

Nearly 900 tagged trouts (brown and rainbow trouts) have been exposed at a distance of 300 m and 1,5–4,5 km from the shore. In the first case the recapture was more favour-able. According to the series 6 to 20% brown trouts and only 1% rainbow trouts were recaptured. The greater part has been caught in the lake; only from October to May the reports came from the rivers. Brown and rainbow trouts lost in the lake their reddish spots or the rainbrowstripe and became silver. The growth is nearly as quick as in the lake trout. After a critical review of our own results and those found in literature we came to the conclusion that there are no morphological differences between brown and lake trouts. It may be that there are genetically fixed differences in the biological-physiological behaviour. But even in this case a classification inSalmo trutta morpha lacustris andS. t. m. fario could not be justifiable—for practical reasons only-because, independantly, in the single lakes the development of lake trouts from populations of brown trouts has happened polyphyletically. Also, for genetically different populations, normally no classifications in subspecies are made. Probably, the difference in the colour and growth-easily striking the eye-misdirects to assume the form ‘morpha lacustris’.     

In-stream water quality,invertebrate and fish community health across a gradient of dairy farming prevalence in a New Zealand river catchment

Dairying is an intensive form of agriculture influencing stream ecosystems worldwide via increased levels of nutrients, deposited fine sediment and other contaminants. However, it is not fully understood how dairy farming affects food supply for stream fish. We investigated relationships between dairy farming prevalence in the catchments of nine tributaries of a New Zealand river (0% to 79% of the catchment area) and fish and invertebrate communities. Streams were sampled four times at monthly intervals for brown trout density, fitness/growth-related trout response variables, native fish density, invertebrate community metrics as well as physical and chemical water quality variables. Densities of both brown trout and native fish declined as dairying increased, with no trout found in streams where dairy farms covered more than 50% of the catchment area. Increasing dairy farming prevalence was also associated with higher in-stream levels of dissolved nutrients and deposited fine sediment. These findings suggest that increasing the extent of dairy farming in New Zealand based on practices at the time of sampling results in less abundant and diverse fish communities.     

Effectiveness of different types of block ramps for fish upstream movement

Rivers are worldwide highly fragmented due to human impacts. This fragmentation has a negative effect on fish movement and dispersal. Many artificial barriers such as river bed sills and small weirs are nowadays replaced by block ramps in order to reestablish longitudinal connectivity for fish in rivers and streams. We studied the upstream passage of several fish species on different types of block ramps with slopes between 3.6 and 13.4 %. We conducted translocation experiments in the field based on mark-recapture and on the use of PIT-tags. Temporal movement patterns were observed by an instream antenna. Hydraulic and morphological characteristics of block ramps were measured and compared with fish passage efficiency. Our results clearly showed that upstream passage efficiency differs between fish species, size classes and block ramps. We observed that brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) performed better than bullhead (Cottus gobio) and several cyprinid species on the same block ramps. Passage efficiency of brown trout and chub (Leuciscus cephalus) was size-selective, with small-sized individuals being less successful. For brown trout, size-selectivity became more relevant with increasing slope of ramp. We conclude that block ramps with slopes of >5 % are ineffective for the small-sized cyprinid species and that vertical drops within step-pool ramps can hinder successful upstream passage of bullhead.     

Test of the host fish species of a unionoid mussel: A comparison between natural and artificial encystment

Many of the unionoid mussel species are threatened, and to be able to develop strategies for effective conservation, one of the needs is to distinguish host fish species from non-host fish species using reliable methods. Margaritifera margaritifera lives as a parasite on brown trout (Salmo trutta) and/or Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The aim was to compare the reliability of two methods measuring the host specificity of M. margaritifera in two rivers that flow out into Skagerrak in the Atlantic Ocean. A second aim was to compare the time- and cost-efficiency of the two methods. The methods were (1) natural encystment abundances on fish in their native streams using electrofishing, and (2) encystment abundances from controlled artificial infestation in aquaria, on fish that were sacrificed. In both rivers, young-of-the-year (YOY), but not older brown trout, were naturally infested with relatively low loads of glochidia larvae, while the Atlantic salmon was not infested at all. When using artificial infestation, both YOY and older brown had encysted glochidia larvae on their gills, while glochidia larvae were not able to develop in Atlantic salmon at all. Here, the encystment was higher on the brown trout from the Lärje River, and older brown trout from the Lärje River did not seem to have as strong immunity response compared to older brown trout from the Brattefors River. In summary, brown trout is the only host fish for M. margaritifera in these rivers. Both methods can be used to discriminate between host fish species, but the method measuring natural encystment seems most time- and cost-efficient. In addition, natural encystment can be measured using a non-destructive photo-method, and is therefore suggested to be used when discriminating between host fish species for M. margaritifera.     

The organisation of fish assemblages in the regulated Lima basin, Northern Portugal

In order to understand the structure of fish assemblages in the modified Lima basin (Northern Portugal), two distinct datasets concerning the presence and abundance of fish species were subjected to multivariate analysis. On the River Lima two types of flow modification are present within kilometres of one another: (a) a reduced and constant flow due to hypolimnetic release; and (b) an intense and irregular flow. A comparison of their influence on fish assemblages revealed a gradient of assemblage types from tributaries to main river sites. The latter were characterised by a strong dominance of cyprinids, particularly Iberian barbel (Barbus bocagei). The former harboured two kinds of fish assemblages: those closer to the river mouth were dominated by the cyprinids Iberian chub (Squalius carolitertii) and Iberian nase (Chondrostoma polylepis), which were also frequently present in the main river; while in those further upstream the predominant species was the brown trout (Salmo trutta). Although explanatory variables such as distance from source, altitude, substrate coarseness and width were the primary correlates of fish assemblage composition, dam construction and flow regulation also had a significant effect upon assemblage structure, particularly by: i) reducing the importance of migratory species; ii) constraining the presence of trout in the regulated segments; and iii) simplifying the community, especially in the case of the constant and reduced flow regime.     

Food-web manipulation of drinking water reservoirs with salmonids: vertical distribution of prey and predator

In a novel biomanipulation experiment salmonids were used as a tool to improve water quality. The manipulation was initiated in spring 2000 as a response to non-point sources of phosphorus in a drinking water reservoir in Saxony, Germany. Salmonids (brown trout, Salmo trutta forma lacustris) were chosen as predators as the reservoir has a large hypolimnic water body and surface temperatures rarely exceed 20 °C. The vertical distributions of prey fish and brown trout were analysed with a fleet of vertical gill nets set in the pelagic zone of the reservoir. Consumption of brown trout was estimated by means of a bioenergetic model and the diet analyses of the trout. While the dominant planktivore (roach, Rutilus rutilus) was caught almost exclusively in the epilimnion during the stratification period trout were caught mainly below a depth of 10 m. Diet analysis revealed that the trout performed vertical migrations to consume food in the epilimnic layer, as an important food component were adult terrestrial and aquatic insects. The amount of fish in the food increased strongly with the size of the brown trout. The consumption estimate suggested that the trout had consumed 2-3% of the total roach stock during the study period (May-November 2000) of the first year of biomanipulation. We conclude that in general salmonids are suitable for food-web manipulation in deep reservoirs, but the stocked fish should be as large as possible (> 300 mm) and the proportion of large trout (> 500 mm) should be as high as possible.     

Migration de la truite lacustre (Salmo trutta lacustris L.) dans le Léman et ses affluents

A total of 2588 adult migratory brown trout (Salmo trutta lacustris) have been tagged from 1964 to 1974 on their spawning sites, in tributaries of the western part of Lake Geneva (Switzerland). Most of the fish (96.2%) recaptured during spawning seasons in the following years have been found in the same river where they had previously been caught. Most tagged fish recaptured by fishermen were found in the western part of the Lake, near their home rivers. This tendency is very strong in autumn and winter. It still remains highly significant in spring and summer.

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Dédié à Wolfgang Geiger     

Restoration of spawning grounds for trout and grayling in the river High-Rhine

In January 1990 10 m³ of washed gravel (grain size 16–50 mm) were introduced in an impounded section of the River High-Rhine to test its potential as a spawning ground for salmonids. The process of infiltration of fine sediments into the gravel and subsequent clogging was monitored for three years. Levels of clogging of the gravel matrix were estimated and ranged from slight to moderately-heavy. The degree of clogging was lower in winter than in summer. Since no bedload transport was observed during the study period, flood events could wash out sediments from the top layer of the gravel bed only. An equilibrium diffusion technique using porewater samplers was employed to measure oxygen concentrations within the interstitial space during the spawning period ofThymallus thymallus (April),Salmo trutta fario andOncorhynchus mykiss (December till February). Oxygen concentration decreased with increasing depth and during the course of the study period. Oxygen concentrations measured as a reference in the interstitial of the confluence of the river Glatt were considerably lower than those of the new gravel bed. A wide range of O₂ concentrations was found in winter 1991/92 and in spring 1992. This could be explained by the heterogeneous microstructure of the substrate. Successful embryonic and larval development of grayling in the gravel bed was observed in spring 1991 and 1992. However, no eggs or larvae of brown trout or rainbow trout were found. Habitat restoration projects for salmonids in impoundments of the High-Rhine are critically discussed.     

Produced water extracts from North Sea oil production platforms result in cellular oxidative stress in a rainbow trout in vitro bioassay

Produced water (PW) discharged from offshore oil industry contains chemicals known to contribute to different mechanisms of toxicity. The present study aimed to investigate oxidative stress and cytotoxicity in rainbow trout primary hepatocytes exposed to the water soluble and particulate organic fraction of PW from 10 different North Sea oil production platforms. The PW fractions caused a concentration-dependent increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) after 1 h exposure, as well as changes in levels of total glutathione (tGSH) and cytotoxicity after 96 h. Interestingly, the water soluble organic compounds of PW were major contributors to oxidative stress and cytotoxicity, and effects was not correlated to the content of total oil in PW. Bioassay effects were only observed at high PW concentrations (3-fold concentrated), indicating that bioaccumulation needs to occur to cause similar short term toxic effects in wild fish.     

Altered mayfly distribution due to strong interactions with alien rainbow trout in Andean streams of Patagonia

Nesameletidae is a Southern Hemisphere ephemeropteran family with large-bodied nymphs that are swimming grazers, traits that make aquatic invertebrates vulnerable to visual predators. Metamonius anceps is the sole representative of this family in South America and its present known distribution along the Southern Andes is mostly restricted to headwater streams, usually with clear and well-oxygenated waters.We analyzed their spatial distribution in relation to the presence of the exotic predator rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), which is the only fish species in many small Andean Patagonia streams. We measured mayfly abundance in the benthos and drift in reaches with and without fish (the latter being reaches upstream of waterfalls that prevent trout access) in three catchments of Nahuel Huapi Lake basin at the Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina. We compared nymphal abundance and body size at the habitat scale and at the reach scale, and nymphal presence and body size in trout diet.A multivariate analysis of physical stream features showed that habitat/reaches with and without fish had similar abiotic characteristics. In no fish sites, nymph density ranged between 44 and 180 m⁻² while in fish sites they were 0–3 m⁻². In one stream nymphs drifted mainly during the day and ∼400 indiv. day⁻¹ were estimated to enter the site with fish. However no nymphs were collected drifting 200 m below the waterfall (the reach with fish). Observations on the diet of rainbow trout also supported the ongoing strong interaction between this mayfly and the trout. M. anceps is a highly vulnerable prey as no permanent populations were found in study reaches with the exotic predator established. Our study emphasizes the potential of natural physical barriers to stop invasive fish having access to headwaters allowing them to harbour natural populations of the most trout-susceptible species supporting pristine ecosystem conditions.     

Highly dilute water chemistry during late snowmelt period affects recruitment of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in River Sira,southwestern Norway

During the past two-three decades the water chemistry in southern Norway has recovered considerably from acidification. The biological response, however, has been more variable. Thus, it has become increasingly apparent that decades of acidification may have masked other restrictors to fish populations in this area. The current study compiles data on young brown trout (Salmo trutta) density and water chemistry from 16 sites in River Sira in southwestern Norway during 2003–2014. The water chemistry during late snowmelt period was highly dilute, having a median conductivity and Ca of 10.5 μS/cm and 0.42 mg/l, respectively (n = 208). The corresponding minimum values were 5.0 μS/cm and 0.15 mg/l. With a pH median value of 5.89, the water was only slightly acidic. No effect of pH on the density of young brown trout was found, suggesting that acidification is no longer a limiting factor. However, both conductivity in year n-1 and Ca in year n correlated significantly with the density of 1+ brown trout. Al in year n, and surprisingly Ca in year n-1, correlated negatively on their densities. We conclude that very dilute water chemistry during late snowmelt is a limiting factor for the recruitment of brown trout in the study river. This effect has probably existed in the past as well, but has been less apparent due to decades of severe acidification.