This study was undertaken to assess the use of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope
analyses as methods to identify source host fish populations of sea lice, Lepeophtheirus
salmonis. The delta carbon signatures of parasitic copepodid sea lice used to infect
cultured Atlantic salmon in the laboratory were found to be statistically indistinguishable
from the delta carbon signatures of blood (ANOVA, p = 1.000) and mucus (ANOVA, p =
0.430) sampled from the wild pink salmon population from which the sea lice originated.
As a result, delta carbon signatures show potential as tools to track the movement of sea
lice between fish populations. In contrast, delta nitrogen analysis did not show such
promise as the natal host fish, wild pink salmon, and novel host fish, cultured Atlantic
salmon, between which sea lice were transferred during the study, did not display distinct
isotope signatures and thus could not be differentiated. This study found that when
applying stable isotope analysis as a method to studying the dispersal of sea lice (1) the
blood and mucus of potential source host fish populations should be sampled when
assessing their possible relationship to sampled sea lice, (2) sea lice in no later than the
parasitic copepodid stage should be analysed, (3) sea lice should be given time to clear
their guts of any host materials before analysis takes place, (4) sea lice sampled from the
gills should not be not grouped with sea lice sampled from the body surface or fins, and
(5) replication unit for sampled parasitic copepodids should be set at the individual and
not host fish level. The application of stable carbon isotopes to tracking the movement of
sea lice between host fish is a promising method for directly identifying sources of sea
lice epizootics and of quantifying the exchange of sea lice between host fish populations. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/31433 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Dean, Susan |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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