Runty Lingcod?

You know, now that you mentioned it, there does seem to be a bit of forced perspective going on there.

I think we need to reproduce this shot after the Elk tournament.   

Sean, any idea exactly where this shot might have been taken?

Brian

Pescadore,

Oddly, what you've described is another set of experiments that David Conover and his lab have done in the past on silversides and striped bass. 

Wow, I came up with the same idea as David Conover? Must be some weird fluke.  Hope you don't think it was a setup.  i really didn't know anything about his work until I heard that report on NPR.

So Brian, I'd like to ask this:  You've rather clearly laid out the foundation for natural selection, that if you consistently remove animals with a certain phenotype from a population over time, the frequency of that genotype in the population is reduced.  This process gives selective atvantage for other genotypes.

You then make the link between natural section and Conover's work and how his experimental model may apply to the ailing alantic cod fishery.  However, at some point you say you don't think this is true here with ling cod.  Why?  Is it due to the different spawning stategies of the two?  Or the different levels that the two fisheries have been fished down?  Looking at that old photo sure makes you realize how fished down we are.  Not to the same level as the Atlantic cod fishery I guess.

Not at all trying to put you on the spot, just curious about your opinion.

I skipped the m.s. got the ph.d. in under 4 years but don't really use it. however it was fun.

Wow, You're the mysterioso dude around here - Doctor!

I do know where it was, it would be fun.  It is snifferish, but if you look at the substrate, and the proportions of the tiny fish, it becomes obvious that those are simply huge!

Pescadore,

I think the biggest difference between Altantic silversides and lingcod with regards to this questions is probably the influence of seasons and temperature.   

While it is true that this is a nice temperature gradient between Alaska and California, none of the temperatures are beyond what a lingcod can handle (40-70 ºF).

On the East Coast, silversides live in estuaries which can a range in water temperatures from freezing way into the nineties (<32- >90ºF).  Populations of silversides in the north, live most of their life in very cool temperatures and only exsist in a temperature where eggs will hatch and larvae grow for a few months at most.   So there is a selective pressure on northern populations to grow as fast as they can at fairly low temperatures in order to survive to the next season.  Populations of silversides in the south however can hatch and grow almost anytime and this selective pressure to grow fast isn't there.

Brian

Good reading. A couple points that I'd like to add:

1) AK has a slot limit on lings. I don't know the exact inch figure, but what they are basically doing is releasing all their big breeder females.

2) During one of the Fishermans Warehouse seminars on light gear/live bait fishing for rockfish, the presenter mentioned that one study found that several tagged vermillion rockfish in Washington and Oregon moved hundreds of miles in a short time. I'm still searching teh interweb for verification of this. But at any rate, larvae in the upper water column would surely move hundreds if not thousands of miles. It would be interesting to compare DNA of lingcod from all along the Pacific Coast, to see how much genetic variance there really is.

Regards,
Scott

So, I was at Fishermen's warehouse yesterday and they have a picture of an 80# plus lingcod.  What I found interesting about it was that it was just a big, fine looking fish.  It's head did not look disproportiionately large.  Remember those ling cod from Greenwood in that old picture?  I may be revisiting my views on "stunted" fish.

Or, is the alaskan lingcod a different breed?

I'm no expert on lings, but as far as I know there's no accepted or established breeds or races.  You'd think, though, that their overall population is spread out enough that some genetically isolated sub populations might be different due to local selective processes.  I know that steelhead/rainbows do that.

Wow, an 80 lb ling.  I can't even imagine dealing with that on a kayak.  Can you imagine getting that mouthful of teeth in the boat?  I think you'd have to do it alaska style....bring your .45.

mol, I hate to say it, but the smart guys are the ones that spent those 4-6 years making $$$

Very true, especially in biotech.

MolBasser

Wow, an 80 lb ling.  I can't even imagine dealing with that on a kayak.  Can you imagine getting that mouthful of teeth in the boat?  I think you'd have to do it alaska style....bring your .45.

I'm sure that an 80 lb fish is outside the slot. You'd need to release it.

Here's a pic of a fish that was landed on a buddy's  boat out of Kodiak. Not 80 lbs, just 52.



Regards,
Scott

that fish would be a blast on a kayak!

That's why I don't fish for rockies with light gear.