Abstract
Background:Skin pigmentation in fish is involved in various biological processes. In salmonids, the interactions of skin spottiness with biometric and reproductive parameters are mostly unknown, especially in naturalized populations influenced by different ecological factors.Objective:To associate skin spottiness variation with biometric and reproductive parameters in broodstocks of naturalized rainbow trout populations from southern Chile.Method:The number of dark spots below the lateral line was assessed in male and female broodstocks of rainbow trout from two reproductive seasons, years 2007 and 2012, and then this dataset was associated with biometric and reproductive parameters of the same individuals, using multivariate data analysis in the form of stepwise forward multiple regression.Results:Male body weight from year 2007 had a significant negative influence on the number of dark spots below the lateral line (P< 0.01), while the reproductive variables egg diameter and spawning time of females from years 2007 and 2012, respectively, had a significant positive influence on this parameter (P< 0.01).Conclusion:Our results indicate that there are male biometric parameters with a significant negative influence on skin spottiness. Our data also reveal that some reproductive parameters have a positive influence on skin spottiness. The identification of these reproductive parameters related to spottiness variation would reflect the reproductive quality of female broodstocks living in natural environments.
Highlights
Several studies have shown that skin pigmentation in vertebrates is a relevant character affecting different biological processes, such as the ornamentation of individuals, female mating preferences and the reproductive success of breeders1874-2130/18 2018 Bentham Open26 The Open Ecology Journal, 2018, Volume 11 in terms of offspring quality (Nordeide et al 2013)
Our data reveal that some reproductive parameters have a positive influence on skin spottiness
The Open Ecology Journal, 2018, Volume 11 27 level on the skin is associated with biometric and reproductive parameters of rainbow trout populations in nature, we investigated the relationship between the number of dark spots below the lateral line with different biometric and reproductive parameters in breeders of this species collected from a naturalized population
Summary
Several studies have shown that skin pigmentation in vertebrates is a relevant character affecting different biological processes, such as the ornamentation of individuals, female mating preferences and the reproductive success of breeders1874-2130/18 2018 Bentham Open26 The Open Ecology Journal, 2018, Volume 11 in terms of offspring quality (Nordeide et al 2013). It has been reported that, in some species of this group, other skin pigmentation components, the spotting variation, could be related with fish size (Aparicio et al 2005) and with the different environmental features of the rivers inhabited by these populations In the latter case, reflecting the role of skin pigmentation as a signal status that could determine the spatial arrangement of individuals along the river bed (Penteriani et al 2015). Further studies have indicated that spotting variation in salmonids can be involved in behaviorrelated roles, such as stress responsiveness, given that highly spotted individuals are generally more resistant to stress than less spotted fishes (Kittilsen et al 2009) Taken together, these data provide strong evidence that skin pigmentation in salmonids plays an important role in different biological processes and may provide clues to facilitate the analysis of these events. The interactions of skin spottiness with biometric and reproductive parameters are mostly unknown, especially in naturalized populations influenced by different ecological factors
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