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C.B. Schreck

Publications and source records attributed to C.B. Schreck.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Stress induced by hooking, net towing, elevated sea water temperature and air in sablefish: Lack of concordance between mortality and physiological measures of stress

In a series of laboratory studies designed to simulate bycatch processes, sablefish Anoplopoma fimbria were either hooked for up to 24 h or towed in a net for 4 h and then subjected to an abrupt transfer to elevated sea water temperature and air. Mortality did not result from hooking or net towing followed by exposure to air, but increased for both capture methods as fish were exposed to elevated temperatures, reflecting the magnifying effect of elevated temperature on mortality. Hooking and exposure to air resulted in increased plasma cortisol and lactate concentrations, while the combination of hooking and exposure to elevated temperature and air resulted in increased lactate and potassium concentrations. In fish that were towed in a net and exposed to air, cortisol, lactate, potassium and sodium concentrations increased, but when subjected to elevated temperature and air, no further increases occurred above the concentrations induced by net towing and air, suggesting a possible maximum of the physiological stress response. The results suggest that caution should be exercised when using physiological measures to quantify stress induced by capture and exposure to elevated temperature and air, that ultimately result in mortality, since the connections between physiological stress and mortality in bycatch processes remain to be fully understood.

Journal of Fish Biology

Effects of thermal regime on ovarian maturation and plasma sex steroids in farmed white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus

Recently, commercial aquaculture farms in Northern California have exposed gravid, cultured white sturgeon females to cold water (12 ?? 1??C) throughout the late phase of vitellogenesis and ovarian follicle maturation resulting in improved ovulation rates and egg quality. However, the optimum timing for transfer of broodfish to the cold water and the capacity of transferred broodfish to maintain reproductive competence over an extended time in cold water had not been evaluated. Gravid white sturgeon females that have been raised at water temperatures of 16-20??C were transported to either cold water (12 ?? 1??C; Group 1) in November 1997 or maintained in ambient water temperatures (10-19??C; Group 2) until early spring. In March 1998, half of the fish in Group 2 had regressed ovaries, but the remaining females had intact ovarian follicles and were transported to the cold water. Ovarian follicles and blood were collected from females until they reached the stage of spawning readiness (determined by germinal vesicle position and an oocyte maturation assay) or underwent ovarian regression. Exposure of gravid sturgeon females to ambient water temperatures (14.5 ?? 2.3??C, mean ?? S.D.) from October to March led to a decrease in plasma sex steroids and a high incidence of ovarian regression in fish with a more advanced stage of oocyte development. Transfer of females with intact ovarian follicles to cold water (12 ?? 1??C) in the fall or early spring resulted in normal ovarian development in the majority of females. Holding females in cold water does not seem to override their endogenous reproductive rhythms but extends their capacity to maintain oocyte maturational competence over a longer period of time. A temperature-sensitive phase in ovarian development may occur during the transition from vitellogenic growth to oocyte maturation, and the degree and timing of sensitivity to environmental temperature are dependent on the female's endogenous reproductive rhythm. ?? 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All Rights reserved.

Aquaculture

The effects of electroshock on immune function and disease progression in juvenile spring chinook salmon

Although much is known about the effects of electroshock on fish physiology, consequences to the immune system and disease progression have not received attention. Our objectives were to determine the effects of electroshock on selected immune function in juvenile spring chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, the mechanism of any observed alteration, and the effects of electroshock on disease progression. We found that the ability of anterior kidney leukocytes to generate antibody-producing cells (APC) was suppressed 3 h after a pulsed-DC electroshock (300 V, 50 Hz, 8 ms pulse width) but recovered within 24 h. This response was similar in timing and magnitude to that of fish subjected to an acute handling stress. The mechanism of suppression is hypothesized to be via an elevation of plasma cortisol concentrations in response to stress. Other monitored immune functions, skin mucous lysozyme levels, and respiratory burst activity were not affected by exposure to electroshock. The progression of a Renibacterium salmoninarum (RS) infection may have been altered after exposure to an electroshock. The electroshock did not affect infection severity or the number of mortalities, but may have accelerated the time to death. The limited duration of APC suppression and lack of effects on lysozyme and respiratory burst, as well as infection severity and mortality levels in RS-infected fish, led us to conclude that electrofishing under the conditions we tested is a safe procedure in regards to immunity and disease.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society

Interaction of infection with Renibacterium salmoninarum and physical stress in juvenile chinook salmon: Physiological responses, disease progression, and mortality

We experimentally infected juvenile spring chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha with Renibacterium salmoninarum (Rs), the causative agent of bacterial kidney disease (BKD), in order to compare the physiological responses of Rs-infected and Rs-noninfected fish to a series of multiple, acute stressors and to determine whether exposure to these stressors worsens the infection and leads to increased mortality. After subjecting groups of fish to a waterborne challenge of Rs, we sampled them biweekly to monitor infection levels, mortality, and some stress-related physiological changes. As infections worsened, fish developed decreased hematocrits and blood glucose levels and increased levels of cortisol and lactate, indicating that BKD is stressful, particularly during the later stages. Eight weeks after the challenge, when fish had moderate to high infection levels, we subjected them, along with unchallenged control fish, to three 60-s bouts of hypoxia, struggling, and mild agitation that were separated by 48-72 h. Our results indicate that the imposition of these stressors on Rs-infected fish did not lead to higher infection levels or increased mortality when compared with diseased fish that did not receive the stressors. Furthermore, the kinetics of plasma cortisol, glucose, and lactate over a 24-h period following each application of the stressor were similar between fish with moderate to high Rs infections and those that had low or no detectable infection. Some differences in the stress responses of these two groups did exist, however. Most notably, fish with moderate to high Rs infections had higher titers of cortisol and lactate prior to each application of the stressor and also were unable to consistently elicit a significant hyperglycemia in response to the stressors. Collectively, our results should be important in understanding the impact that BKD has on the survival of juvenile salmonids, but we caution that our results represent the combined effects of one type of stressor and one disease only and probably cannot be applied to other scenarios.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society

Influence of bacterial kidney disease on smoltification in salmonids: Is it a case of double jeopardy?

We investigated the effects of a chronic, progressive infection with Renibacterium salmoninarum (Rs), the causative agent of bacterial kidney disease (BKD), on selected aspects of smoltification in yearling juvenile spring chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). After experimentally infecting fish with Rs using an immersion challenge, we sampled them every two weeks to monitor changes in gill Na+, K+-ATPase (ATPase), cortisol, infection level, mortality, growth, and other stress-related physiological factors during the normal time of parr-smolt transformation in fresh water (i.e., from winter to spring). A progressively worsening infection with Rs did not alter the normal changes in gill ATPase and condition factor associated with smoltification in juvenile chinook salmon. The infection did, however, lead to elevated levels of plasma cortisol and lactate and depressed levels of plasma glucose, indicating that the disease is stressful during the later stages. A dramatic proliferation of BKD was associated with maximal responses of indicators of smoltification, suggesting that the process of smoltification itself can trigger outbreaks of disease. Our results suggest mechanisms that probably influence the reported inability of Rs-infected fish to successfully adapt to sea water.

Aquaculture

Growth, smoltification, and smolt-to-adult return of spring chinook salmon from hatcheries on the Deschutes river, Oregon

The relationship between smoltification and smolt-to-adult return (SAR) of spring chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha from the Deschutes River, Oregon, was examined for four release groups in each of three successive years. Fish were reared, marked with coded wire tags, and released from Round Butte Hatchery, Pelton Ladder rearing facility, and Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery. Smolt releases occurred in nearly the same place at similar times, allowing a direct comparison of SAR to several characters representing smolt quality. Return rates varied significantly among facilities, varying over an order of magnitude each year. The highest average SAR was from Pelton Ladder, the lowest was from Warm Springs. Each of the characters used as metrics of smoltification - fish size, spring growth rate (February-April), condition factor, plasma hormone concentration (thyroxine, cortisol, and insulin-like growth factor-I [IGF-I]), stress challenge, gill Na+,K+-ATPase activity, and liver glycogen concentration - varied significantly among facilities and seasonally within hatchery groups. However, only spring growth rate, gill ATPase activity, and plasma IGF-I concentration showed significant relationships to SAR. These characters and SAR itself were consistently lower for fish released from Warm Springs Hatchery than for fish from Round Butte Hatchery and Pelton Ladder. This demonstrates that differences in the quality of fish released by facilities may have profound effects on subsequent survival and suggests that manipulations of spring growth rate may be used to influence the quality of smolts released from facilities.

Oregon

Vulnerability to predation and physiological stress responses in juvenile chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) experimentally infected with Renibacterium salmoninarum

We experimentally infected juvenile chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) with Renibacterium salmoninarum (Rs), the causative agent of bacterial kidney disease (BKD), to examine the vulnerability to predation of fish with differing levels of Rs infection and assess physiological change during progression of the disease. Immersion challenges conducted during 1992 and 1994 produced fish with either a low to moderate (1992) or high (1994) infection level of Rs during the 14-week postchallenge rearing period. When equal numbers of treatment and unchallenged control fish were subjected to predation by either northern squaw fish ( Ptychocheilus oregonensis ) or smallmouth bass ( Micropterus dolomieui) , Rs-challenged fish were eaten in significantly greater numbers than controls by nearly two to one. In 1994, we also sampled fish every 2 weeks after the challenge to determine some stressful effects of Rs infection. During disease progression in fish, plasma cortisol and lactate increased significantly whereas glucose decreased significantly. Our results indicate the role that BKD may play in predator-prey interactions, thus ascribing some ecological significance to this disease beyond that of direct pathogen-related mortality. In addition, the physiological changes observed in our fish during the chronic progression of BKD indicate that this disease is stressful, particularly during the later stages.

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Effects of routine handling and tagging procedures on physiological stress responses in juvenile chinook salmon

Juvenile chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha were subjected to handling and tagging protocols typical of normal hatchery operations and monitored for their physiological response to stress. Treatments included coded‐wire‐tagging, counting, ventral fin clipping, adipose fin clipping, and a procedure simulating a pond split. Treatment fish were also subjected to a standardized stress challenge (1 h confinement) to evaluate their ability to deal with disturbances subsequent to a handling or tagging procedure. Circulating levels of cortisol and glucose were used as indicators of stress. Each of the treatments elicited very similar responses among treatment groups. Cortisol increased from resting levels of about 20 ng/mL to about 90 ng/mL by 1 h poststress and returned to near resting levels by 8 h poststress. Glucose levels increased from 50 mg/dL to about 80 mg/dL by 1 h poststress and remained elevated for much of the experiment. The cortisol and glucose responses to the confinement stress did not differ over time or among treatments. However, the confinement stress results do suggest a small but significant cumulative response, indicating small residual effects of the original handling protocols. No deaths were noted among treatment groups.

Progressive Fish-Culturist

Physiological levels of testosterone kill salmonid leukocytes in vitro

Adult spring chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) elaborate high plasma concentrations of testosterone during sexual maturation, and these levels of testosterone have been shown to reduce the salmonid immune response in vitro. Our search for the mechanism of testosterone's immunosuppressive action has led to the characterization of an androgen receptor in salmonid leukocytes. In the present study we examined the specific effects that testosterone had on salmonid leukocytes. Direct counts of viable leukocytes after incubation with and without physiological levels of testosterone demonstrate a significant loss of leukocytes in cultures exposed to testosterone. At least 5 days of contact with testosterone was required to produce significant immunosuppression and addition of a 'conditioned media' (supernatant from proliferating lymphocytes not exposed to testosterone) did not reverse the immunosuppressive effects of testosterone. These data lead us to conclude that testosterone may exert its immunosuppressive effects by direct action on salmonid leukocytes, through the androgen receptor described, and that this action leads to the death of a significant number of these leukocytes.

General and Comparative Endocrinology

Introgression and susceptibility to disease in a wild population of rainbow trout

We examined susceptibility of wild rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss from the Metolius River, a tributary of the Deschutes River, Oregon, to genetic introgression and cerato myxosis as a result of stocking nonnative hatchery rainbow trout. Ceratomyxa shasta , an enzootic myxosporean parasite that can be lethal to nonnative hatchery rainbow trout, might have been limiting the interbreeding of hatchery and wild rainbow trout in the river. However, rainbow trout from the Metolius River had allozyme frequencies intermediate between those of wild and hatchery fish at LDH‐82* and sSOD‐1* , two diagnostic genetic loci that allow the inland subspecies of rainbow trout to be distinguished from hatchery strains of coastal origin. They also had notable frequencies of ADA‐1 *85 , an allele documented in hatchery rainbow trout but rarely seen in wild populations. We also found that rainbow trout in the Metolius River averaged 138.9 scales in the lateral series, intermediate between the counts for 9 coastal or nonnative hatchery populations, which always had fewer than 140 scales, and 10 inland populations, which always had more than 140 scales. Disease challenges revealed that rainbow trout from the Metolius River had much greater susceptibility to C. shasta than rainbow trout from the Deschutes River, which have genetic resistance to the lethal disease. Based on these data, we concluded that introgression with nonnative hatchery rainbow trout has reduced the abilities of wild rainbow trout in the Metolius River to survive when conditions for ceratomyxosis infection occur.

Oregon

Hormonal control of hepatic glycogen metabolism in food-deprived, continuously swimming coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch

The plasma cortisol concentration and liver cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor activities of continuously swimming, food-deprived coho salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) did not differ from those of resting, fed fish. Plasma glucose concentration was significantly higher in the exercising, starved fish, but there were no significant differences in either hepatic glycogen concentration or hepatic activities of glycogen phosphorylase, glycogen synthase, pyruvate kinase, or lactate dehydrogenase between the two groups. Total glucose production by hepatocytes did not differ significantly between the two groups; glycogen breakdown accounted for all the glucose produced in the resting, fed fish whereas it explained only 59% of the glucose production in the exercised animals. Epinephrine and glucagon stimulation of glucose production by hepatocytes was decreased in the exercised fish without significantly affecting hepatocyte glycogen breakdown in either group. Insulin prevented glycogen breakdown and enhanced glycogen deposition in exercised fish. The results indicate that food-deprived, continuously swimming coho salmon conserve glycogen by decreasing the responsiveness of hepatocytes to catabolic hormones and by increasing the responsiveness to insulin (anabolic hormone).

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Gamete ripening and hormonal correlates in three strains of lake trout

In our 2-year laboratory study of hatchery-reared adult lake trout Salvelinus namaycush of the Seneca Lake, Marquette (Lake Superior Lean), and Jenny Lake strains, we compared gamete ripening times and changes in plasma concentrations of seven hormones. If interstrain differences in these traits were found, such differences might help explain the apparent failure of stocked fish of these strains to develop large, naturally reproducing populations in the Great Lakes. The complex temporal changes in plasma hormone levels that occur during sexual maturation in lake trout have not been previously described. We detected little evidence of temporal isolation that would prevent interbreeding among the three strains. Strain had no effect on ovulation date (OD) in either year. Strain did not affect spermiation onset date (SOD) in year 1 but did in year 2, when the mean SOD of Jenny Lake males was earlier than that of Seneca Lake males but not different from that of Marquette males. Hormonal data were normalized around ODs for individual females and SODs for individual males. In females, estradiol-17β (E2) was highest 8 weeks before the OD; the highest testosterone (T) level occurred 6 weeks before the OD, and the next highest level occurred simultaneously with the highest level of 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) 2 weeks before the OD. Plasma levels of 17∝-hydroxy-20β-dihydroprogesterone (DHP) peaked 1 week before the OD, then abruptly declined immediately after. Cortisol (F), triiodothyronine (T 3 ), and thyroxine (T 4 ) were highly variable, but F was the only hormone that showed no trend with week in either year. In males, plasma E2 levels were highest 3 weeks before the SOD, highest levels of T and of 11-KT occurred simultaneously 2 weeks after the SOD, and DHP peaked 5 weeks after the SOD and 3 weeks after the highest levels of T and 11-KT. As in females, plasma levels of F, T 3 , and T 4 were highly variable, and F was the only hormone that showed no trend with week in either year. Strain had no effect on any hormones in females and only on T and F in males. The lack of pronounced interstrain differences in gamete ripening dates and reproductive endocrinology and the similarity of the temporal patterns and relative concentrations of hormones to those reported for other salmonids suggest nothing unusual or dysfunctional about these reproductive traits that would impede lake trout rehabilitation in the Great Lakes.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society

Electrofishing mark-recapture and depletion methodologies evoke behavioral and physiological changes in cutthroat trout

We examined the behavioral and physiological responses of wild and hatchery-reared cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki subjected to a single electroshock, electroshock plus marking, and multiple electroshocks in natural and artificial streams. In a natural stream, cutthroat trout released after capture by electrofishing and marking showed distinct behavioral changes: fish immediately sought cover, remained relatively inactive, did not feed, and were easily approached by a diver. An average of 3–4 h was required for 50% of the fish to return to a seemingly normal mode of behavior, although responses varied widely among collection sites. Using the depletion method, we observed little change in normal behavior offish remaining in the stream section (i.e., uncaptured fish) after successive passes with electrofishing gear. In an artificial stream, hatchery-reared and wild cutthroat trout immediately decreased their rates of feeding and aggression after they were electroshocked and marked. Hatchery fish generally recovered in 2–3 h; wild fish required at least 24 h to recover. Analysis of feeding and aggression data by hierarchical rank revealed no distinct recovery trends among hatchery fish of different ranks; among wild cutthroat trout, however, socially dominant fish seemed to recover faster than intermediate and subordinate fish. Physiological indicators of stress (plasma cortisol and blood lactic acid) increased significantly in cutthroat trout subjected to electroshock plus marking or single or multiple electroshocks. As judged by the magnitude of the greatest change in cortisol and lactate, multiple electroshocks elicited the most severe stress response; however, plasma concentrations of both substances had returned to unstressed control levels by 6 h after treatment. It was evident that electrofishing and the procedures involved with estimating fish population size elicited a general stress response that was manifested not only physiologically but also behaviorally. These responses may affect the accuracy of population size estimates by violating key assumptions of the methods, especially the assumption of equal catchability offish.

Transactions of the American Fisheries Society