Reduced Numbers of Returning Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) and Thiamine Deficiency Are Both Associated with the Consumption of High-Lipid Prey Fish
Keinänen, M., Raitaniemi, J., Pönni, J., Ritvanen, T., Myllylä, T., & Vuorinen, P. (2025). Reduced Numbers of Returning Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) and Thiamine Deficiency Are Both Associated with the Consumption of High-Lipid Prey Fish. Fishes, 10(1), Article 16 . https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes10010016
Published in
FishesAuthors
Date
2025Copyright
© 2024 the Authors
In 2023, exceptionally few salmon (Salmo salar) ascended from the Baltic Sea to spawn in the Rivers Tornionjoki and Simojoki, regardless of the proper number of smolts descending to the sea in preceding years. We investigated how the numbers of age-0 and young herring (Clupea harengus) and sprat (Sprattus sprattus), which are the principal prey species of salmon in the Baltic Proper, the main feeding area of these salmon, as well as the amount of lipid obtained from them and their protein-to-lipid ratio, correlated with the number of returning salmon and the thiamine (vitamin B1) status of spawning salmon. The fewer the 0-year-old herring were and the more abundant were the youngish sprat in the Baltic Proper when the post-smolts arrived there, and the greater the lipid content and lower the protein-to-lipid ratio of the prey fish, the fewer salmon returned to the Rivers Tornionjoki and Simojoki to spawn two years later. The number of returning salmon was lowest with a high ratio of youngish sprat, 1–3 years old, regarding the River Tornionjoki and 1–2 years old regarding the River Simojoki post-smolts, to 0-year-old herring, which were of a suitable size to be the prey for the post-smolts upon their arrival in the Baltic Proper. In 2021, the ratios were lowest due to the record-low number of 0-year-old herring. The poor thiamine status of spawning salmon was also associated with the high lipid content of available prey fish and with the abundance of youngish sprat, which have twice the lipid content of age-0 herring. Our findings parallel the observations in the early 1990s when post-smolt survival declined concurrently with the outbreak of thiamine deficiency, M74. We conclude that consuming high-lipid marine fish reduces the survival of post-smolts and, thus, the number of returning salmon, in addition to causing thiamine deficiency.
...


Publisher
MDPIISSN Search the Publication Forum
2410-3888Keywords
Publication in research information system
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/245364034
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
Additional information about funding
This research received no external funding.License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
High Lipid Content of Prey Fish and n−3 PUFA Peroxidation Impair the Thiamine Status of Feeding-Migrating Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) and Is Reflected in Hepatic Biochemical Indices
Keinänen, Marja; Nikonen, Soili; Käkelä, Reijo; Ritvanen, Tiina; Rokka, Mervi; Myllylä, Timo; Pönni, Jukka; Vuorinen, Pekka J. (MDPI AG, 2022)Signs of impaired thiamine (vitamin B1) status in feeding-migrating Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were studied in three Baltic Sea areas, which differ in the proportion and nutritional composition of prey fish sprat (Sprattus ... -
Thiamine Deficiency M74 Developed in Salmon (Salmo salar) Stocks in Two Baltic Sea Areas after the Hatching of Large Year-Classes of Two Clupeid Species : Detected by Fatty Acid Signature Analysis
Vuorinen, Pekka J.; Käkelä, Reijo; Pakarinen, Tapani; Heinimaa, Petri; Ritvanen, Tiina; Nikonen, Soili; Rokka, Mervi; Keinänen, Marja (MDPI AG, 2024)Lipid-related thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency of Baltic salmon (Salmo salar), the M74 syndrome, is generally caused by feeding on abundant young sprat (Sprattus sprattus) in the Baltic Proper, the main foraging area of ... -
Benchmark Workshop on Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) in the North Atlantic (WKBSALMON)
Perälä, Tommi; White, Jonathan; Adams, Grant; April, Julien; Bárðarson, Hlynur; Ahlbeck Bergendahl, Ida; Bolstad, Geir; Breau, Cindy; Bull, Colin; Chaput, Gerald; Cooper, Anne; Dauphin, Guillaume; Erkinaro, Jaakko; Gillson, Jonathan; Gregory, Stephen; Jepsen, Niels; Kermoade, MacKenzie; Lebot, Clément; Legault, Chris; Maxwell, Hugo; McGinnity, Philip; Meerburg, David; Millane, Michael; Nadolna-Ałtyn, Katarzyna; Olmos, Maxime; Ounsley, James; Patin, Rémi; Pedersen, Stig; Rivot, Etienne; Robertson, Martha; Sheehan, Tim; Staveley, Tom; Taylor, Andrew; Walker, Alan; Wennevik, Vidar (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 2023)WKBSalmon reviewed the implementation of a Life Cycle Model (LCM) for wild anadromous Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) covering their natal north Atlantic range. The LCM is a time iterative, Bayesian hierarchical model ... -
Atlantic salmon survival at sea : temporal changes that lack regional synchrony
Tirronen, Maria; Hutchings, Jeffrey A.; Pardo, Sebastián A.; Kuparinen, Anna (Canadian Science Publishing, 2022)Spatial and temporal synchrony in abundance or survival trends can be indicative of whether populations are affected by common environmental drivers. In Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), return rates to natal rivers have ... -
Relationship between parasitic Margaritifera margaritifera larvae and the host fish, Atlantic salmon
Nagahawatte, Kaushalya (2024)The glochidium larvae of the endangered freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera infect the gills of suitable host fish and typically become encysted. Captive breeding has emerged as a crucial conservation ...