Morphological differences between wild and hatchery-reared Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) from Lake Michigan, USA

Fisheries Management and Ecology
By: , and 

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Abstract

Coregonines (ciscoes and whitefishes) are economically, ecologically, and culturally important fishes that are distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In the Laurentian Great Lakes, coregonines declined throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and managers have prioritized their restoration. A key restoration tool is reintroduction via stocking. However, hatchery-reared coregonines can display different morphologies than wild fish, which could affect their fitness. Unfortunately, our understanding of these differences is limited because previous work did not adequately remove allometric effects in morphological analyses. We compared morphologies between wild and hatchery-reared Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) from the same stock using appropriate size corrections. Hatchery-reared fish had shorter heads, shorter dorsal fins, and shallower bodies than wild fish. Moreover, some characters differed across wild fish collections. Our results improve our understanding of how artificial rearing can impact coregonine morphology, and we recommend future studies on what causes these differences and whether they impact fitness.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Morphological differences between wild and hatchery-reared Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) from Lake Michigan, USA
Series title Fisheries Management and Ecology
DOI 10.1111/fme.12653
Volume 31
Issue 1
Year Published 2024
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) Great Lakes Science Center
Description e12653
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