Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-131).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-108). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-151).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [98]-108).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 364-378).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-115). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-107).

Pacific salmon reared commercially off of the Coast of British Columbia suffer great mortality losses to Bacterial Kidney Disease (BKD), caused by the diplobacillus bacterium Renibacterium salmqninarum. This thesis investigates the effects of environmental conditions on the growth performance and disease susceptibility of salmonids reared in captivity. I found that growth rate of chinook salmon was significantly higher in fish fed to 100 compared to 67 % of satiation during the first 175 days of saltwater rearing but not during the first winter. Feed coversion rate was significantly higher for fish fed at 100 % of satiation compared to 67 % of satiation and higher during the winter compared to summer and fall, irrespective of feeding level. Mortality rates were significantly higher during the summer than during the fall or winter, irrespective of experimental treatment. The last BKD sampling period (day 263) revealed that infection rates were directly proportional to stocking densities of 1.5 to 4 kg.m⁻₃. Hatchery-reared chinook salmon held in freshwater aquaria had significantly lower hematocrit and plasma cortisol concentration increases in response to increased stocking density than did their wild counterparts. Crowding of hatchery-reared and wild chinook salmon resulted in equally increased mortality rates for both groups of fish. Day 33 plasma cortisol concentrations in Atlantic salmon held at three stocking densities were directly proportional to stocking densities of 8 to 64 kg.m⁻₃. The ability of anterior kidney lymphocytes from these fish to produce antibody-producing cells was inversely proportional to the density at which the fish were held. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

The major purpose of this study was to examine the physiological basis of the differences in the early life histories of pink Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, chum O. keta, coho O. kisutch, chinook O. tshawytscha and sockeye O. nerka. To this end, the following working hypotheses were tested: (i) the embryo, alevin and fry of pink and chum salmon are euryhaline, whereas the same life stages of coho, chinook and sockeye are stenohaline and (ii) the euryhalinity of pink and chum is due not to high tissue tolerance but to their ability to regulate the osmotic and ionic concentrations in their blood, whereas the stenohalinity of coho, chinook and sockeye stems from their inability to osmoregulate and ion regulate. The results did not completely support these hypotheses. The LD₅₀ values and the osmoregulatory data obtained from embryos indicated that pink and chum are not euryhaline as hypothesized but like coho, chinook and sockeye embryos are stenohaline. However, pink and chum embryos showed significantly greater salinity resistance and osmoregulatory ability than embryos of the other species. The data obtained from alevins also did not support the working hypothesis for alevins of all five species were found to be stenohaline. But, as in the case for embryos, pink and chum alevins showed greater salinity resistance and osmoregulatory abilities than coho and sockeye alevins. This ability of pink and chum was correlated with better ionic regulation of sodium and chloride. Although chinook alevins survived considerably longer in 31.8 °/oo sea water than coho and sockeye alevins , their ability to osmoregulate and ion regulatewas not very different from that of coho and sockeye alevins. It was concluded, therefore, that the greater salinity resistance of chinook alevins was due to high tissue tolerance. Contrary to the results with embryos and alevins, the data obtained from fry supported the working hypotheses. The results showed that pink and chum were euryhaline and that this condition was due to their ability to osmoregulate and control the levels of sodium and chloride in the blood. Coho, chinook and sockeye fry were found to be stenohaline and were unable to regulate the osmotic and ionic concentrations in their blood. As in the case of alevins, chinook fry, due to higher tissue tolerance, manifested greater salinity resistance than coho and sockeye. When the data for all species of embryos and fry were grouped and compared to the alevins taken as a group, the LD₅₀ values of embryos and fry were found to be significantly greater than those of the alevins . The blood osmotic concentrations of embryos and fry exposed for the same duration in 31.8 °/oo sea water were significantly lower than the blood osmotic concentrations for alevins. It was included, therefore, that embryos and fry have greater salinity resistance than alevins because of the greater osmoregulatory ability of embryos and fry. On the basis of these results as well as information obtained from the literature, speculations were made on the phylogenetic relations within the genus Oncorhynchus. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

Triploidy was induced in rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, by heat shock (10 min at 26, 28 or 30°C, applied 1 min after fertilization at 10°C) and in pink salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha Walbaum, and coho salmon, 0. kisutch Walb., by hydrostatic pressure shock (1, 2, 3 or 4 min at 69,000 kPa, applied 15 min after fertilization at 10.5°C). Triploid individuals were identified by the flow cytometric measurement of DNA content of erythrocytes stained with propidium iodide. Gonadosomatic index was reduced to a much greater extent in triploid females than males. Triploid ovaries remained very small, and contained virtually no oocytes. Triploid testes became quite large, but few cells developed beyond the spermatocyte stage. Triploid male rainbow trout had significantly lower spermatocrits than diploids, and their spermatozoa were aneuploid. Growth rates were the same for diploid and triploid rainbow trout, but triploid female pink salmon were smaller than maturing diploid females and diploid and triploid males of the same age. Triploid males of both species developed typical secondary sexual characteristics and had normal endocrine profiles for plasma sex steroids and plasma and pituitary gonadotropin, but their cycle was delayed by about one month. Triploid females developed no secondary sexual characteristics and showed no endocrine signs of maturation, even at the level of the pituitary. Vitellogenin synthesis was induced in immature diploid and triploid coho salmon by the weekly injection of 17β-estradiol. Plasma vitellogenin and pituitary gonadotropin levels were significantly elevated over levels of sham-injected fish, whereas plasma gonadotropin levels were slightly depressed. There was no significant difference between diploids and triploids for any of these results, indicating that normal vitellogenesis is not impaired by triploidy per se. It is concluded that triploids of both sexes are genetically sterile, but that only triploid females do not undergo physiological maturation. Triploid testes develop sufficiently for their steroidogenic cells to become active, which is not the case for triploid ovaries. The occasional cells that pass through the normal meiotic block develop to full maturity in triploid males but not in triploid females, probably due to the absence of the appropriate stimulus to initiate and maintain vitellogenesis. Although triploids of both sexes should make valuable tools for basic research on reproductive physiology, only the females will be useful for practical fish culture to avoid the economically detrimental effects of maturation in fish destined for human consumption. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate