Could anybody tell me if there is any differance in the DNA of a hatchery fish vs a wild fish?And if so what is the differance?

Duroboat15

Been there...done that!

Check it out ...."Should WDFW be cloning wild steelhead now?"

Cowlitzfisherman

Two answers - yes, and no

WIld and hatachery steelhead can interbreed, so they have chromosomes that are similar enough that they can interbreed. General, that is the definition of what makes a species, though some closely related species, such as horses and donkeys, can interbreed as well.

Having the same DNA is a more precise question. You and I, both being humans, have the same number of chromosomes, and a similar number of genes. Genes are what cause specific features, such as size, color of hair, build, freckles, and such to appear. You and I undoubtedly have different genes than each other. You and your spouse mix genes to create kids, and those kids have different sets, but related genes, to yours. Every gene that the kid has came from one of his parents.

DNA is the material on the chromosome that holds the gene. Think of DNA as a molecule that is a really complex tinkertoy set, with little parking spaces. The tinkertoys in a given parking space describe a gene.

So, hatchery steelhead have DNA that is of a similar length and construction as wild steelhead. The contents of the DNA is different. The content of the DNA between on hatchery steelhead and another is also likely to be different, as well, simply because almost all individuals of a species differe from each other in some small amount.

Hope that helps.

silver hilton


We did not spawn two horses to get a donkey! thats impossible!

We spawn two steelhead and end up with a steelhead! Hatchery fish are geneticly the same as wild fish. The only diference is how they are raised and when they are released theres nothing genetic about that. Genes dont change after your born.
why is it so easy for some people to be brainwashed by these damn extremist groups! DONT DRINK THE WATER!

Man is this a complicated question that is pretty tough to explain in a few sentences.

In short, DNA differs from wild to hatchery fish from the loss of diversification of alleles (I believe this is named 'outbreeding depression'). The chromo counts are identical, and probably 99% of the genetic code is too, it is what is left in the tiny details that determine the differences.

While the environmental factors in raising hatch fish do affect its behavior, the real problem arrises by the numbers of fish being so closely related by the genetic soup method of cultivation. Anytime that the natural selection process is interfered with, there is a strong possibility that natural evolotionary tendencies are being altered which could lead to severe limitations towards long term survival.

William

So micropterus101, a steelhead is a steelhead is a steelhead? I think you need biology 101. Any native species has a genetic diversity that is not matched by assembly line breeding, be it fish or fruit.

Duroboat15, your question is actually very complex. You could also ask if the DNA is different between the different races of humans, or for that matter between northern European and southern European. Obviously there is a difference, but it is with specific genes, just as there are specific gene differences between Bill Walton and Bill Gates. The mapping of the human geome was just completed, but that does not mean that the scientists knows the function of each gene.

The difference between hatchery steelhead and natives depends on the genetic source and how genetically pure they keep the hatchery fish. Silver Hilton brings up the good point of the native fish being "contaminated" with hatchery DNA. I don't know about steelhead, but most stocker rainbow trout are bred for how well they do in the hatchery and how fast they grow to 12 inches. Having these K-Mart special trout bred with natives would be a crime.

I don't trust that hatcheries will do the right thing to protect native fish or even provide quality fish. Just look what they did with whirling disease: a number of hatcheries knew they were contaminated and yet continued to stock the fish. Some of those clowns should have gone to jail for that one.

The essential problem that most biologist see with hatchery fish is inbreeding. Just like you wouldn't want to start with a brother and sister and create an entire population, you don't want to start with just two fish to create an entire population.

In the wild, there is an equal amount of chance that any fish will breed with another fish. This is what keeps genetic variation and a healthy population. The next generation from this mating has a relatively low survival rate in the wild, lets say that perhaps 5 fry from each mating make it into the ocean. On the other hand, a hatchery starts with a set small amount of males and females, which are specificly bred. Because the fry are raised in a controlled environment with virtually no predators or food competition, perhaps 2000 fry from each mating will make it into the ocean. This is how hatcheries work, a small amount of fish are taken in, bred, and a large amount of offspring are set loose.

So imagine if a wild fish has 5 offspring, the odds of any two of those five coming back and breeding with eachother(inbreeding), is very low. If you think about the hatchery fish, which may had have 2000 fry survive from one set of parents, it is much easier to imagine that two of those 2000 would be chosen by the hatchery personal and bred again to create another 2000 offspring. This goes on and on, with each generation reducing genetic variation and allele frequencies.

This all may be clearer if related to human populations. Of the 2000 kids from the first set of parents, 2 of them, brother and sister, mate to create another 2000 kids, 2 of those, brother and sister again breed to create another 2000 kids, and so on. Everyone has seen the problems with disease in the royal families of europe from inbreeding, do we want this same sort or thing to happen to the fish we eat?

David Bayes
University of Montana Biology Major

What Silver Hilton meant was that donkeys and horses CAN be bred together, although they are genetically two different species. The result are mules, which themselves cannot produce viable offspring (sterile).

i believe the answer is to use wild stock for breeding in the hatcherys everyyear. hatchery fish and wild fish breed in the wild every year.and their off spring are not clipped and everyone somehow still thinks there is some pure wild strain of steelhead and salmon in our rivers.our hatcheirs can be ran better but they have to be ran or we will not be fishing. The swirling disease was a microbe in the water that effected the trout in the hatcheirs .they have cured this problem by using uv light to treat the water. for the most part it has worked. have a problem , find a answer *****ing never helps it feels good but it never helps.

No, you don't spawn two horses to get a donkey, you breed a donkey to a horse and get a mule.

Now, as to hatchery steelhead being genetically the same as wild steelhead, that's not quite true. It's like saying that a poodle is the same as a german shepard. Yes, both are dogs, but they have substantially different traits.

Hatchery fish were intentionally and unintentionally selected for a variety of traits over the years. These included the ability to survive without freaking out in hatchery tanks, early returning (which unintentionally bred the trait of racing through the river), and uniformity in size. We also bred a lot of the biters out of the gene pool, which is why in some of the rivers, such as the deschutes, the wild fish bite at three times the rate as hatchery fish.

So, while they are the same species, and are genetically similar, it's not accurate in my opinion to say that they are the same. They could be, if the hatcheries had that as a goal, but hatachery managers intentionally bred fish away from the wild phentotypes for 50 years, so it just ain't so anymore.

Thanks guys for the replys. I also did a search on the net for salmon dna and got some info there also.