PNNL

Abstract

Knowledge of the relationship between accumulated thermal units and developmental stages of Chinook salmon embryos can be used to determine the approximate date of egg fertilization in natural redds, thus providing insight into oviposition timing of wild salmonids. However, few studies have documented time to different developmental stages of embryonic Chinook salmon and no color reference photographs are available. The objectives of this study were to construct an index relating developmental stages of hatchery-reared fall Chinook salmon embryos to time and temperature (e.g., degree days) and provide high-quality color photographs of each identified developmental stage. Fall Chinook salmon eggs were fertilized in a hatchery environment and sampled approximately every 72 h post-fertilization until 50% hatch. Known embryonic developmental features described for sockeye salmon in Velsen (1980) [as adapted from Vernier (1969)] were used to describe development of Chinook salmon embryos. A thermal sums model was used to describe the relationship between embryonic development rate and water temperature (Fry 1971; Crisp 1981; Alderdice and Velsen 1978; Beacham and Murray 1990). Mean water temperature was 8.0°C (range; 3.9–11.7°C) during the study period. Nineteen stages of embryonic development were identified for fall Chinook salmon; two stages in the cleavage phase, one stage in the gastrulation phase, and sixteen stages in the organogenesis phase. The thermal sums model used in this study provided similar estimates of fall Chinook salmon embryonic development rate in water temperatures varying from 3.9–11.7°C (mean = 8°C) to those from several other studies rearing embryos in constant 8°C water temperature (Alderdice and Velsen 1978; Velsen 1987). The developmental index provides a reasonable description of timing to known developmental stages of Chinook salmon embryos and proved useful in estimating the date of fertilization of wild fall Chinook salmon embryos excavated from redds in the Columbia River. This index should prove useful to other researchers who wish to approximate fertilization dates of Chinook salmon eggs from natural redds, assuming the thermal history of embryos is known.