ALBERT

Notes: Growth hormone (GH) was applied to Atlantic salmon Salmo salar parr (the pre-migratory freshwater life stage) to manipulate growth potential experimentally and to elucidate the effects on dominance status, actual growth, exploratory activity and home range. Experiments were conducted using seven groups of eight parr from May to September of two successive years. The fish were tagged with passive integrated transponders (PIT tags), tested for dominance, and then held in an enclosed section of a natural stream which was fitted with an array of PIT tag detectors to record space use at a definition of c. 2 m. Relationships between dominance rank, space use and growth were established over 2 weeks. The four lowest ranking fish in each group were then given a slow-release GH implant while the other fish received a placebo. The GH stimulated increase in fork length (LF) and mass and decrease in condition factor due to the relatively greater increase in LF. There was, however, an interaction between GH-stimulated increase in growth and season, with the hormone having an effect only during the early part of the summer. Regardless of treatment, fish that moved most around their home range grew fastest. Increased growth in GH-treated fish was associated with an increase in growth per unit movement, not increased total movement. This suggested that GH-treated fish increased their rate of short-distance (〈2 m) foraging movements. Overall, space use, measured in terms of home range size and time allocation throughout the range, did not vary consistently in response to application of GH. There was a strong correlation between the weighted centre of the home range (a measure of position within the enclosure) before and after treatment, irrespective of whether fish were given GH or a placebo. The study shows that when density is low relative to carrying capacity, GH stimulates increased dominance and growth in a near-natural environment without having measurable effects on space use at a definition of c. 2 m. The results are interpreted as suggesting that high dominance status gives no significant growth advantage in a highly competitive situation, but increases foraging rate when food is abundant. Increased foraging appears to result from local changes in time budgeting rather than variations in the extent of home range and larger-scale movements within it. Thus, in areas with declining wild Atlantic salmon populations where the habitat is unsaturated and food is abundant, introduced domestic Atlantic salmon may be competitively superior.

Notes: Distinct fish assemblages were found at the mesohabitat scale in 14 streams in eastern Sabah, Malaysia. Sites were designated a priori as pool, run or riffle on the basis of physical habitat structure and properties. Principal components analysis of physical habitat data confirmed the validity of the a priori designation with a major axis of three correlated variables: water velocity, depth and substratum type. Canonical discriminant analysis on fish abundance and biomass data confirmed the existence of a specialized assemblage of fishes from riffle areas of all streams. Overall, pool and run assemblages were highly variable, dependent on stream size, but also variable between streams of the same size. Multiple regression of species richness, diversity, abundance and biomass data on principal components revealed significant but low correlations with measured habitat variables. Riffle habitats showed lower species richness and diversity but high abundance. The fish assemblage in riffles was dominated by balitorid species, specialized for fast-water conditions. Pool assemblages had the highest species diversity and were dominated by cyprinid species of a number of morphological and ecological guilds. Run assemblages were intermediate in assemblage characteristics between riffle and pool assemblages. Between-stream variation in assemblage composition was less than within-stream variation. Of 38 species collected, seven could be designated as riffle specialists, 18 as pool specialists and 13 as ubiquitous, although most of the latter showed size-specific habitat use with larger size classes found in slower, deeper water.

Notes: Length/weight relationships are described for 16 species of tropical freshwater fishes. Two important morphological groups are recognized (“flattened” and “heavy-bodied”) along with two species of eel-like fish. Common regression equations are given.

Notes: Up to 30 species of fish were generally found in medium-sized rainforest streams in Sabah, Malaysia. However, depauperate fish communities were found in two streams above large (〉8 m) waterfalls (five and nine species) and in two very small streams located in deep forest (five and six species). A fifth stream with small cascades and waterfalls had a faunal list of 12 species. Species resident above waterfalls were predominantly herbivores while fishes in the two forest streams were from a variety of trophic groups. Abundance and biomass of fishes above waterfalls were significantly lower than all other sites. A translocation experiment was performed in one stream to distinguish between the hypotheses that fish communities above waterfalls were determined solely by colonization ability and were unsaturated with species or that they were limited by habitat quality or food. Seven species (775 individuals) were trans located into one isolated section and four species (570 individuals) into another. Species that were trans located included trophic groups that were not represented by resident species. Twelve months after translocation, only four and one trans located species were collected in the two sections, all at greatly reduced densities. After 20 months, the number of species were three and two, respectively. One trans located species, Rasbora sumatrana, had increased in abundance from 12 months and juveniles were present in the population. Individuals of other trans located species appeared to be remnants of stocked populations. Abundance and biomass of resident species fluctuated widely between years. Interpretation of results was complicated by a large flood which substantially changed habitat conditions about a month after translocations were performed. It is suggested that two different factors were responsible for depauperate communities: movement barriers for waterfall sites and physicochemical conditions and/or habitat availability at other sites.