Atlantic Salmon Juveniles Rely on Vitamin B1 for Survival
Ann Arbor, MI — Atlantic salmon, a popular sport fish in the Great Lakes, have difficulty reproducing when the amount of vitamin B1 is low in their eggs. This deficiency leads to a disease called Early Mortality Syndrome, or EMS.
"EMS is a potential problem for all salmon in the Great Lakes," states Marshall Werner a professor of chemistry at Lake Superior State University. "This disease appears to be due to certain bait fish such as alewives, smelt, and gizzard shad in the Great Lakes. These types of fish contain an enzyme called thiaminase, which breaks down vitamin B1, or thiamine."
Werner and his colleagues at the LSSU Aquatic Research Laboratory have been investigating the EMS in the Atlantic salmon that are stocked in the St. Marys River every year. They have observed that when the levels of thiamine are low in the eggs of spawning females that the resulting young salmon have high death rates.
"Presumably, the levels of thiamine in eggs are low because the salmon have been feeding on diets that consist mainly of alewives and other thiaminase containing fish," Werner says. "Since their fish food contain high levels of thiaminase, the females cannot put enough thiamine in eggs and the young do not survive."
The researchers also conclude that a new rapid method for measuring thiamine in fish eggs may help fishery managers make decisions concerning salmon stocking in the Great Lakes.
Original Publication Information
Results of this study "Egg-thiamine Status and Occurrence of Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) in Atlantic Salmon from the St. Marys River, Michigan," are reported by R. Marshall Werner, Benjamin Rook and Roger Greil in the latest issue (Volume 32, No. 2, pp. 293-305) of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, published by the International Association for Great Lakes Research, 2006.
Contacts
For more information about the study, contact : Dr. Marshall Werner, Dept. of Chemistry, Lake Superior State University, 650 W. Easterday Ave., Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783; mwerner@lssu.edu; (906)-635-2281.
For information about the Journal of Great Lakes Research, contact Marlene Evans, Editor, National Water Research Institute, Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 3H5, Canada; jglr@ec.gc.ca; (306) 975-5310.
Links
Since 1967, IAGLR has served as the focal point for compiling and disseminating multidisciplinary knowledge on North America's Laurentian Great Lakes and other large lakes of the world and their watersheds. In part, IAGLR communicates this knowledge through publication of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, available to members in print and electronic form. A searchable archive of the journal is available online and includes the abstracts of articles from the journal's inception in 1975 through the most recent issue. In addition, complete articles are available to members who have signed up for an electronic subscription.