scholarly journals Body-shape trajectories and their genetic variance component in Gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanos Fragkoulis ◽  
Dimosthenis Kerasovitis ◽  
Costas Batargias ◽  
George Koumoundouros

AbstractThe phenotype of juvenile fish is closely associated with the adult phenotype, thus consisting an important quality trait for reared fish stocks. In this study, we estimated the correlation between the juvenile and adult body-shape in Gilthead seabream, and examined the genetic basis of the ontogenetic trajectories. The body shape of 959 pit-tagged fish was periodically examined during the juvenile-to-adult period. Individual shape ontogenetic trajectories were studied in respect to the initial (juvenile) and final (adult) phenotypes, as well as to the rate that adult phenotype is attained (phenotypic integration rate). We found that the juvenile body-shape presented a rapid change up to 192.7 ± 1.9 mm standard length, followed by a phenotypically stable period (plateau). Depending on the shape component considered, body-shape correlations between juvenile and adult stages ranged from 0.22 to 0.76. Heritability estimates (h2) of the final phenotype ranged from 0.370 ± 0.077 to 0.511 ± 0.089, whereas h2 for the phenotypic integration rate was 0.173 ± 0.062. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating that the variance of the ontogenetic trajectories has a substantial additive genetic component. Results are discussed in respect to their potential use in selective breeding programs of Gilthead seabream.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanos Fragkoulis ◽  
George Koumoundouros

Haemal lordosis, V-shape bending of the haemal vertebrae, is a frequent abnormality of reared fish. Lordosis severity ranges from light deformations of vertebral axis, with insignificant effects on external morphology, to severe axis deformations with significant impact on body-shape. In the present study, we developed a simple morphometric index (PrAn) that links lordosis severity at the juvenile stage with fish body-shape at harvesting, without requiring to radiograph or sacrifice the samples. Examined seabream specimens were part of our previous study (Fragkoulis et al. 2019, Sci. Rep. 9, 9832), which monitored the effects of lordosis on the external morphology of pit-tagged seabream juveniles during their growth, up to harvest size. At both juvenile and adult stages, PrAn was effective in discriminating the normal fish from ca the 70% of lordotic fish. Our results suggest the PrAn as a valuable scale of quality, which quantifies the lordosis effects on fish external morphology, both at the juvenile stage and at harvest. Depending on the lordosis rates, and the hatchery strategy on the maximum allowed abnormality rates, this scale can cull out different rates of lordotic fish, without affecting the fish with normal phenotype or the lordotic fish with high recovery potential.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chara Kourkouta ◽  
Alice Printzi ◽  
George Geladakis ◽  
Nikos Mitrizakis ◽  
Nikos Papandroulakis ◽  
...  

AbstractTemperatures experienced during early ontogeny significantly influence fish phenotypes, with clear consequences for the wild and reared stocks. We examined the effect of temperature (17, 20, or 23 °C) during the short embryonic and yolk-sac larval period, on the swimming performance and skeleton of metamorphosing Gilthead seabream larvae. In the following ontogenetic period, all fish were subjected to common temperature (20 °C). The critical swimming speed of metamorphosing larvae was significantly decreased from 9.7 ± 0.6 TL/s (total length per second) at 17 °C developmental temperature (DT) to 8.7 ± 0.6 and 8.8 ± 0.7 TL/s at 20 and 23 °C DT respectively (p < 0.05). Swimming performance was significantly correlated with fish body shape (p < 0.05). Compared with the rest groups, fish of 17 °C DT presented a slender body shape, longer caudal peduncle, terminal mouth and ventrally transposed pectoral fins. Moreover, DT significantly affected the relative depth of heart ventricle (VD/TL,p < 0.05), which was comparatively increased at 17 °C DT. Finally, the incidence of caudal-fin abnormalities significantly decreased (p < 0.05) with the increase of DT. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence for the significant effect of DT during the short embryonic and yolk-sac larval period on the swimming performance of the later stages.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 191945
Author(s):  
Carlos Díaz-Gil ◽  
Josep Alós ◽  
Pablo Arechavala-Lopez ◽  
Miquel Palmer ◽  
Inmaculada Riera-Batle ◽  
...  

Chemical cues from predators induce a range of predator-induced morphological defences (PIMDs) observed across fish taxa. However, the mechanisms, consistency, direction and adaptive value of PIMDs are still poorly studied. Here, we have tested if predatory cues can induce changes in the body shape of the juvenile marine fish Sparus aurata reared under controlled conditions without the presence of predators by exposing individuals to the olfactory stimulus of a fish predator. We tested our hypothesis using a nested replicated before-after-control-impact experiment, including recovery (potential reversibility) after the cessation of the predator stimulus. Differences in the size-independent body shape were explored using landmark-based geometric morphometrics and revealed that, on average, individuals exposed to a predatory cue presented deeper bodies and longer caudal regions, according to our adaptive theoretical predictions. These average plastic responses were reversible after withdrawal of the stimulus and individuals returned to average body shapes. We, therefore, provide evidence supporting innate reversible PIMDs in marine naive fish reared under controlled conditions. The effects at the individual level, including fitness and the associated applied implications, deserve further research.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2270
Author(s):  
María Dolores Ayala ◽  
Carolina Galián ◽  
Victoria Fernández ◽  
Elena Chaves-Pozo ◽  
Daniel García de la Serrana ◽  
...  

A 90-d feeding trial was conducted in which five groups of gilthead seabream (11.96 g initial body weight) were fed with a microalgae-free diet (control group, C) or four diets containing the microalgae Nannochloropsis gaditana at two inclusion levels (2.5% or 5%), either raw (R2.5 and R5 batches) or cellulose-hydrolyzed (H2.5 and H5 batches), to study their effect on the body and muscle growth. At 40 days, the highest values of body length and weight were reached in R5 group, but at 64 and 90 days, these were reached in R2.5. However, feed conversion rate, specific growth, daily intake, and survival (100%) were similar in all the groups. The acquisition of a discoid body shape was accelerated depending on the inclusion level of N. gaditana in the diets. Moreover, H5 diet affected the fish geometric morphology compared to R5 diet. The white muscle transverse area was similar in all groups at 40 days, with the exception of H2.5 group, which showed the lowest area. At day 90, C and R2.5 displayed the highest muscle growth, attributable to increased hyperplasia in C, and higher hypertrophy in R2.5. However, the highest proportion of small and medium fibers was observed in R5 and H5.


2012 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 558-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnaud Bignon ◽  
Catherine Crônier

Numerous exuviae of three Dechenella species (D. givetensis, D. ziegleri and D. calxensis) from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of NE France (Ardenne Massif) provide the opportunity to identify the evolutionary modifications of ontogeny of the three Dechenella species and to elaborate a conceptual framework of developmental shape changes. First we used biometric and morphometric approaches to characterize shape modifications. Then we computed ontogenetic trajectories by multivariate regression of geometric shape variables on centroid size in order to compare them. Finally, we compared parallelism between trajectories and rates of development relative to size. These analyses demonstrate a significant difference in the cranidial developmental trajectories of D. givetensis and D. ziegleri indicating an allometric repatterning. However, pygidia of these species share the same allometric pattern with a distinct developmental rate suggesting that heterochrony could be a partial explanation for the body shape evolution. Pygidial ontogeny of D. calxensis corresponds to an allometric repatterning with respect to both other species. This work illustrates the complexity of evolutionary modifications of ontogeny constituting an important process in morphological novelties.


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 1503
Author(s):  
Ε. DINÇTÜRK ◽  
T. T. TANRIKUL ◽  
S. S. BIRINCIOĞLU

Saprolegniosis is a serious fungal disease that mostly affects freshwater fish species and eggs. It has a cotton wool-like appearance on the body of amphibians, crustaceans and several fish species. Infected gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) were subjected to clinical, microbiological, parasitological and pathological investigation. On the infected skin samples, grey-white cotton-like patches, erosion of the skin and scale affusion were detected. Lesions covered the whole body of S. aurata in the advanced stages. Bacterial growth and parasitic symptoms were not observed in microbiological examination. Microscopic examination showed hyphaes carrying cysts that were long and branched. In scanning electron microscopy overviews fungal zoospores were observed. In histopathological observations of sections of skin, erosive-ulcerative dermatitis and mycelium of Saprolegnia parasitica were seen in the muscle tissue. Gene sequence-based identification found Saprolegnia parasitica. S. parasitica has not until now been detected in S.aurata. The low salinity of the brackish water is believed to be the predisposing factor of Saprolegniosis in sea bream in this case.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaimie Krems ◽  
Steven L. Neuberg

Heavier bodies—particularly female bodies—are stigmatized. Such fat stigma is pervasive, painful to experience, and may even facilitate weight gain, thereby perpetuating the obesity-stigma cycle. Leveraging research on functionally distinct forms of fat (deposited on different parts of the body), we propose that body shape plays an important but largely underappreciated role in fat stigma, above and beyond fat amount. Across three samples varying in participant ethnicity (White and Black Americans) and nation (U.S., India), patterns of fat stigma reveal that, as hypothesized, participants differently stigmatized equally-overweight or -obese female targets as a function of target shape, sometimes even more strongly stigmatizing targets with less rather than more body mass. Such findings suggest value in updating our understanding of fat stigma to include body shape and in querying a predominating, but often implicit, theoretical assumption that people simply view all fat as bad (and more fat as worse).


Author(s):  
Johan Roenby ◽  
Hassan Aref

The model of body–vortex interactions, where the fluid flow is planar, ideal and unbounded, and the vortex is a point vortex, is studied. The body may have a constant circulation around it. The governing equations for the general case of a freely moving body of arbitrary shape and mass density and an arbitrary number of point vortices are presented. The case of a body and a single vortex is then investigated numerically in detail. In this paper, the body is a homogeneous, elliptical cylinder. For large body–vortex separations, the system behaves much like a vortex pair regardless of body shape. The case of a circle is integrable. As the body is made slightly elliptic, a chaotic region grows from an unstable relative equilibrium of the circle-vortex case. The case of a cylindrical body of any shape moving in fluid otherwise at rest is also integrable. A second transition to chaos arises from the limit between rocking and tumbling motion of the body known in this case. In both instances, the chaos may be detected both in the body motion and in the vortex motion. The effect of increasing body mass at a fixed body shape is to damp the chaos.


Aquaculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 537 ◽  
pp. 736462
Author(s):  
I. Elalfy ◽  
H.S. Shin ◽  
D. Negrín-Báez ◽  
A. Navarro ◽  
M.J. Zamorano ◽  
...  

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