Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Induced hatching to avoid infectious egg disease in whitefish.

Claus Wedekind1

  • 1Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG - ETH), 6047, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland. c.wedekind@ed.ac.uk

Current Biology : CB
|January 16, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Whitefish eggs hatch early when exposed to cues from a virulent egg parasite. This adaptive response, triggered by water-borne signals, demonstrates phenotypic plasticity in hatching timing.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Growth of brown trout in the wild predicted by embryo stress reaction in the laboratory.

Ecology·2024
Same author

Parental kinship coefficient but not paternal coloration predicts early offspring growth in lake char.

Heredity·2024
Same author

Sex-specific effects of inbreeding in juvenile brown trout.

Molecular ecology·2024
Same author

Sperm of more colourful males are better adapted to ovarian fluids in lake char (Salmonidae).

Molecular ecology·2023
Same author

Author Correction: Adult sex ratios: causes of variation and implications for animal and human societies.

Communications biology·2022
Same author

Adult sex ratios: causes of variation and implications for animal and human societies.

Communications biology·2022

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Aquatic Biology

Background:

  • Organisms exhibit defensive strategies before direct contact with threats, including behavioral, developmental, and physiological changes.
  • Hatching represents a significant shift in niche and life history, making its timing a potential target for adaptive plasticity.
  • Life history models predict that hatching timing can be phenotypically plastic, with early or delayed hatching being inducible based on environmental pressures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the phenotypic plasticity of hatching timing in whitefish (Coregonus sp.) in response to perceived threats.
  • To determine if early hatching is an inducible defense mechanism against egg mortality factors.

Main Methods:

  • Experimental manipulation of whitefish egg environments.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Introduction of a virulent egg parasite to induce a threat cue.
  • Observation and measurement of hatching timing in response to water-borne cues from infected eggs.

    • Main Results:

    • Whitefish eggs exhibited significantly earlier hatching when exposed to water-borne cues from a virulent egg parasite.
    • The early hatching response was directly linked to the presence of cues emitted by infected eggs, not just general water conditions.
    • This suggests an adaptive plasticity where early hatching is a strategy to escape egg-stage mortality.

    Conclusions:

    • The timing of whitefish hatching is phenotypically plastic and can be induced by environmental cues signaling increased egg mortality.
    • Water-borne cues from egg parasites can trigger an adaptive early hatching response in whitefish.
    • This study provides experimental evidence for inducible defenses mediated by hatching plasticity in response to specific threats during the egg stage.