Effects of size and morphology on swimming performance in juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta L.)

Abstract –  Our study assesses swimming capacity (speed and stamina) and possible morphometric determinants of locomotor performance of juvenile brown trout ( Salmo trutta L.). We addressed these issues at the individual level to have an approach of the functional significance of intraspecific variation in morphological design. Both swimming speed and endurance time showed significant positive relationships with fish length. Size-corrected values of speed and endurance time were negatively correlated suggesting a phenotypic trade-off between burst and prolonged swimming. Size was also highly correlated with all the morphological variables measured. Therefore, we used the residuals of the regressions of those variables on fish length to remove the effect of body size. A principal components analysis (PCA) summarised the 12 morphological variables into two factors, which accounted for 44.3% of the variance. PC1 combined several measures of body depth and width, whereas PC2 represented mainly postanal length relative to abdomen length. Relationships between the scores of the two factors and size-corrected values of maximum swimming speed and endurance time were weak. PC2 showed a significant positive relationship with endurance time; that is, individuals with longer caudal regions were able to swim against water flow for longer periods of time. Stoutness (PC1) showed a marginally significant negative correlation with endurance time. The lack of stronger relationships could be because of the low morphometric variability among the test individuals, all proceeding from the same population, reared in a common environment, and measured at the same ontogenetic stage.