Aqua-BioScience Monographs, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 29–65 (2012) www.terrapub.co.jp/onlinemonographs/absm/ Migratory Behaviors in Masu Salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) and the Influence of Endocrinological Factors Arimune Munakata Department of Biology Miyagi University of Education Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-0845, Japan e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract Received on April 1, 2011 In the freshwater phase of their lifecycle, masu salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) comprise Accepted on September 22, 2011 two different phenotypes. A portion of the juveniles (migratory form) exhibit downstream Online published on November 20, 2012 migratory behavior after smoltification. However, some masu salmon (non-migratory form) such as precociously mature males live continuously in their natal rivers throughout their Keywords lifetime. The coexistence of migratory and non-migratory forms within the species indi- • cortisol cates that this salmon can be effectively used as a model fish to illuminate both inhibitory • downstream migration and stimulatory physiological control mechanisms of migratory behaviors. In masu salmon, • masu salmon it was found that sex steroid hormones inhibit the occurrence of downstream swimming • Oncorhynchus masou behavior, the initial step in seaward migration. Moreover, after the commencement of • Pacific salmon • sex steroid hormone downstream migration, sex steroid hormones induced the upstream swimming and subse- • spawning quent spawning behaviors. These findings indicate that sex steroid hormones influence • testosterone the occurrence of the downstream and upstream swimming behavior in the resulting rheo- • upstream migration taxis fashion (negative and positive, respectively). In contrast to sex steroid hormones, it was also found that cortisol, which is involved substantially in smoltification, stimulates the downstream swimming behavior.