Widespread thiamine deficiency in California salmon linked to an anchovy-dominated marine prey base
Abstract
Thiamine (vitamin B 1 ) deficiency in marine systems is a globally significant threat to marine life. In 2020, newly hatched Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) fry in California’s Central Valley (CCV) hatcheries swam in corkscrew patterns and died at unusually high rates due to a lack of this essential vitamin. We subsequently investigated the impacts and causes of thiamine deficiency in California’s anadromous salmonids. Our laboratory studies defined the relationship between thiamine concentrations in Chinook salmon eggs and early life-stage survival in offspring; we used these data to develop a model that estimated 26 to 48% thiamine-dependent fry mortality across consecutive years (2020–2021) for winter-run Chinook salmon. We established an egg surveillance effort that found widespread thiamine deficiency in CCV Chinook salmon in 2020 and 2021, and emerging thiamine deficiency in Klamath River and Trinity River coho salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) in 2021. We determined that thiamine injections into adults raised egg thiamine concentrations above levels found to impact early life-stage survival and swimming behavior. Ocean surveys, prey nutrition, salmon gut contents, and stable isotope data link thiamine deficiency to an ocean diet dominated by a booming population of northern anchovy ( Engraulis mordax ). This forage fish had low thiamine, high lipid, and high thiaminase activity levels consistent with both a thiaminase and oxidative stress hypothesis for causing thiamine deficiency in California salmon. Our research suggests California’s already stressed anadromous salmonids will continue to be impacted by thiamine deficiency as long as their ocean forage base and diet are dominated by northern anchovy.
Article Details
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (37)
Nathan J. Mantua
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division
Heather Bell
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California
Anne E. Todgham
Department of Animal Science, University of California
Miles E. Daniels
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division
Jacques Rinchard
Department of Environmental Science and Ecology, State University of New York
Jarrod M. Ludwig
Department of Environmental Science and Ecology, State University of New York
John C. Field
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division
Steven T. Lindley
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division
Freya E. Rowland
U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Department of Interior
Catherine A. Richter
U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Department of Interior
David Walters
U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Department of Interior
Bruce Finney
Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University
Haskell Anne R. Distajo
Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University
Donald Tillitt
U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Department of Interior
Dale C. Honeyfield
Retired U.S. Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center
Taylor Lipscomb
California-Nevada Fish Health Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Kevin Kwak
Fisheries Branch, California Department of Fish and Game
Jason Kindopp
Division of Integrated Science and Engineering, California Department of Water Resources
Dennis Cocherell
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California
Abigail Ward
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California
Thomas H. Williams
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division
Jeff Harding
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division
Nann A. Fangue
Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California
Carson Jeffres
Center for Watershed Sciences, University of California
Rocio I. Ruiz-Cooley
Ensenada Center for Scientific and Higher Education
Steven Y. Litvin
Monterey Bay Aquarium Institute
Scott Foott
California-Nevada Fish Health Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Mark Adkison
Fisheries Branch, California Department of Fish and Game
Brett Kormos
Fisheries Branch, California Department of Fish and Game
Peggy Harte
Center for Community and Citizen Science, University of California
Frederick Colwell
Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University
Christopher P. Suffridge
Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University
Kelly C. Shannon
Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University
Amanda Cranford
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries West Coast Region, California Central Valley Office
Charlotte Ambrose
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries West Coast Region, California Central Valley Office
Aimee Reed
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Rachel C. Johnson
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division