Fitness difference between cryptic salinity-related phenotypes of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

The existence of cryptic salinity-related phenotypes has been hypothesized in the euryhaline sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). How differential osmoregulation costs between freshwater and saltwater environments affect fitness and phenotypic variation is misunderstood in this species. During an experiment lasting around five months, we investigated changes in the whole body mass and in the expression of growth-related genes (insulin-like growth factor 1 [IGF-1]; growth hormone receptor [GHR]) in the intestine and the liver of sea bass thriving in sea water (SSW), successfully acclimated to freshwater (SFW), and unsuccessfully acclimated to freshwater (UFW). Albeit non-significant, a trend toward change in body mass was demonstrated among SSW, UFW and SFW fish, suggesting that SSW fish were a mixture of the other phenotypes. Several mortality peaks were observed during the experiment, with batches of UFW fish showing higher expression in the osmoregulatory intestine due to down-regulation of genes in the liver and significant up-regulation of GHR in the intestine compared with SFW fish. Energy investment toward growth or ion homeostasis hence partly mediates the fitness difference between cryptic SFW and UFW phenotypes. The use of a genetic marker located within the IGF-1 gene showed no genotype-phenotype relationship with levels of gene expression.