Growth and Smoltification of Three Norwegian Strains of Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar Reared under Different Thermal Regimes

A comparative study was performed with juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar from three stocks in Western Norway that differ in their natural conditions. One is from warm, lowland river conditions (Årdal), one is from cold glacial river conditions (Stryn) and the last one (Suldalslågen) is from a hydropower‐regulated river. The salmon parr were tagged and reared at 4, 5.5 and 7 °C and simulated natural water temperature (SNT) for river Suldalslågen. Size distribution was unimodal at 4 °C, with a change to a bimodal distribution, representing potential 1+ and 2+ smolts, at the other temperature regimes. The relative biomass of 1+ smolts varied between the stocks as Stryn (cold glacial river) stock had the highest number of smolts at 7 °C and the Suldalsågen stock (hydropower‐regulated river) displaying the highest number at the SNT regime. Overall, the Stryn stock, originating from cold river conditions, seemed to be well adapted to growth and smoltification at cold temperatures, whereas salmon parr from river Suldalslågen seem to be better adapted to the natural temperature regime (SNT) of this river than the other two stocks. This was reflected in the gill Na+,K+‐ATPase as the Suldalslågen stock showed increasing activity from 16 April (4.2 µmol ADP mg protein−1 h−1) to 10 May (9.2 µmol ADP mg protein−1 h−1), and at the end of the experiment, enzyme activity in Suldalslågen stock was significantly higher than both Stryn (5.7) and Årdal (5.9 µmol ADP mg protein−1 h−1) stock. In contrast, the warm lowland stock, Årdal, fish had low Na+,K+‐ATPase activity with no distinct peak at any of the sampled dates from March through May. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.