Long-residence groundwater effects on incubating salmonid eggs: low hyporheic oxygen impairs embryo development

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) ova were incubated at a range of burial depths (50–300 mm) in a set of test arrays inserted at previously used redd sites in a near-pristine stream. Oxygen saturation and electrical conductivity of hyporheic water (obtained 0.5–1.0 m distant from each array from a depth of 200–300 mm below streambed level) were determined at ~2-week intervals over the incubation period (November–March). The test arrays were recovered from the streambed in mid-March, and thereafter, the eyed ova were incubated in surface water until hatch (24 March – 17 April). Embryo survival rates, hatch date, and alevin size differed among and within arrays. Mean alevin body size varied markedly among incubation groups (length, 14.9–20.8 mm; dry mass, 3.9–7.7 mg). Within arrays, embryo size varied with burial depth on fine spatial scales (approximately 50 mm); greater burial depth tended to be associated with smaller size. Among arrays, embryo size at the 250-mm depth was correlated with oxygen saturation o...

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