Amounts of asymmetry in centrarchid fish inhabiting heated and nonheated reservoirs

Journal Article · Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1979 · Trans. Am. Fish. Soc.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1979)108<489:AOAICF>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:5486890

Ames, L J; Felley, J D; Smith, M H

The effects of heated effluents on morphology of fishes in natural populations were investigated. Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), bluegills (Lepomis macrochirus), and redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus) were sampled in bodies of water that had never experienced thermal effluents, in those that were currently receiving heated effluents, and in those that had received heated effluents in the past, but received them no longer. Differences in means between heated and ambient temperature locations were seen only in two meristic characters in the redbreast sunfish. Differences in amounts of bilateral asymmetry (hypothesized to be a measure of developmental homeostasis) were not demonstrated between populations in heated and ambient-temperature locations. However, fish from a pond heavily contaminated with mercury had higher levels of asymmetry than fish from the other populations sampled.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Ecology Lab., Aiken, SC
• OSTI ID: 5486890
• Journal Information: Trans. Am. Fish. Soc.; (United States), Vol. 108:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
THERMAL EFFLUENTS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
FISHES
HOMEOSTASIS
MERCURY
MORPHOLOGY
POPULATIONS
SYMMETRY
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ECOSYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
METALS
VERTEBRATES
560205* - Thermal Effects- Vertebrates- (-1987)
560305 - Chemicals Metabolism &amp; Toxicology- Vertebrates- (-1987)
520100 - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- (-1989)