Abstract |
Arctic grayling, Thymallus arcticus, captured from the Chena River in Interior Alaska or artificially propogated from the sex products of fish from this population were tested for tolerance to elevated water temperatures. Most tests were conducted in recirculating temperature-controlled tanks with a few conducted as standard static bioassays. Median tolerance limit ranges were delineated for sac fry, young-of-the-year, fish larger than 10 cm, and fish larger than 20 cm. There is some evidence that the least sensitive life cycle stage is the young-of-the-year which had a median tolerance limit above 24.5C. after acclimatization at 8.5C plus or minus 1C. Equipment limitations did not allow acclimatization of all fish at the same temperature, however. Therefore, some changes in tolerance due to life cycle changes were somewhat masked by the effect of different acclimatization temperatures. |