Aren advanced hybrid salmon voracious predators that will consume all the available food in an ecosystem and will prey on native juveniles?
A. No. Advanced hybrid salmon actually consume less food per pound of weight gained because they process their food 10 to 30 percent more efficiently. Advanced hybrid salmon may be highly prone to starvation in the natural environment as they learn to identify and hunt for wild food. They maintain a higher metabolic level for a longer period of time in food deprivation studies, and deplete their energy reserves more quickly than do standard salmon. Any food competition would occur in the marine environment because sterile advanced hybrid salmon can not produce the juveniles that occupy freshwater habitat. In the marine life stages, advanced hybrid salmon would compete with older native salmon of about the same size. Because food availability is not limiting in the marine environment, advanced hybrid salmon would gain no advantage from their higher feeding motivation. Sterile female salmon do not engage in spawning behaviors and almost never return to freshwater habitat after they begin
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