KENDALL AND BEHNKE: SALMONIDAE 



149 



Table 35. Characters that vary among the Salmonine Genera. 



' There is lack of agreement on the relationships between these laxa; e.g., some consider Parasalmo a subgenus in Salmo. while others would also consider Oncorhynchus a subgenus of Salmo. 



* Retained in O. ma.sou 



* Salmo salar has 56-60 diploid chromosomes- 



* Salmo marmoratus and S platycephalus have no dark spots. 



sphere. They have several character states that seem advanced 

 over those seen in coregonines. They are moderate-sized, gen- 

 eralized insectivores (Table 32). 



Salmoninae contains four to six genera, depending on opin- 

 ions over the relationships among the species in Salmo, Par- 

 asalmo, and Oncorhynchus (Table 35). These seem to be the 

 most advanced of the salmonids, and share several character 

 states that are derived compared to the other two subfamilies 

 (Table 35). Holcik (1982) presented evidence which suggests 

 that the genera Hucho, Brachymysla.x, and Salvelinus form one 

 lineage; Parasalmo and Salmo another; and Oncorhynchus a 

 third. Salmonines are mainly active predators and most tend 

 toward an anadromous life histoi7. 



Early life history and developmental information should con- 

 tribute to the rigorous analysis of characters that will be required 



to validate the foregoing hypotheses about relationships. Such 

 information is not presently available in the literature, but should 

 be readily obtainable, since so many of these fishes are routinely 

 reared in laboratories and hatcheines. Developmental infor- 

 mation seems particularly promising in this family, since a wide 

 range of the life history patterns are present and larvae can be 

 superficially grouped according to their representative subfam- 

 ilies. 



(A.W.K.) Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center, 2725 

 MoNTLAKE Blvd. E., Seattle, Washington 98112 and 

 (R.J.B.) Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology, 

 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 

 80523. 



