Bernat Morro

• PhD
• Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies

The spatial and temporal heterogeneity of recreational anglers and the challenges associated with monitoring their activities often complicate their effective management. Angler smartphone applications (apps) offer a promising digital tool for self-reporting fishing effort (E) and captures per unit of effort (CPUE). However, despite their growing u...

Most organisms synchronize to an approximately 24-hour (circadian) rhythm. This study introduces a novel deep learning-powered video tracking method to assess the stability, fragmentation, robustness and synchronization of activity rhythms in Xyrichtys novacula. Experimental X. novacula were distributed into three groups and monitored for synchroni...

Smoltification in salmonids occurs during spring in response to increasing photoperiod to prepare for marine life. Smoltification is associated with increased hypo-osmoregulatory ability and enhanced growth potential, mediated by growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1. Rainbow trout is uniquely insensitive to the induction of smoltif...

Background Rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ) is a salmonid species with a complex life-history. Wild populations are naturally divided into freshwater residents and sea-run migrants. Migrants undergo an energy-demanding adaptation for life in seawater, known as smoltification, while freshwater residents display these changes in an attenuated ma...

Offshore aquaculture has gained momentum in recent years, and the production of an increasing number of marine fish species is being relocated offshore. Initially, predictions of the advantages that offshore aquaculture would present over nearshore farming were made without enough science-based evidence. Now, with more scientific knowledge, this re...

Background: Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a salmonid species with a complex life-history. Wild populations are naturally divided into freshwater residents and sea-run migrants. Migrants undergo an energy-demanding adaptation for life in seawater, known as smoltification, while freshwater residents display these changes in an attenuated mag...

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. A number of factors make the planned expansion of the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry unachievable in its current form, which is based primarily on sea cages in sheltered sea lochs. The...

Offshore aquaculture has gained momentum in recent years and the production of more marine farmed fish species is moving offshore. Initially, predictions of the advantages that offshore aquaculture would present over near shore farming were made without enough science-based evidence. Now, with more scientific knowledge, this review revisits past pr...

The absence of MHC class II antigen presentation and multiple pathogen recognition receptors in the Atlantic cod has not impaired its immune response however how underlying mechanisms have adapted remains largely unknown. In this study, ex vivo cod macrophages were challenged with various bacterial and viral microbe-associated molecular patterns (M...

The burden of disease is a major challenge in aquaculture production. The fish gill characterized with a large surface area and short route to the bloodstream is a major environmental interface and a significant portal of entry for pathogens. To investigate gill responses to viral infection the salmonid gill cell line RTgill-W1 was stimulated with...

The genome sequencing of Atlantic cod revealed an immune system absent of specific cell surface toll-like receptors (TLRs), major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II, invariant chain (CD74) and the CD4 (cluster of differentiation 4) receptor. Despite the loss of these major components considered as critical to vertebrate innate and adaptive i...

Ensuring lumpfish health and welfare in salmon farms is vital to reduce the high mortality rates reported and to guarantee a high delousing efficiency. Recent observations of farmed lumpfish livers have shown colours ranging from pale (colours 1 and 2), through bright orange (colours 3 and 4), to dark reddish-brown (colours 5 and 6), some of which...

The sea-run phenotype of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), like other anadromous salmonids, present a juvenile stage fully adapted to life in freshwater known as parr. Development in freshwater is followed by the smolt stage, where preadaptations needed for seawater life are developed making fish ready to migrate to the ocean, after which event...

Both temperature and photoperiod affect salmonid growth and smoltification. These environmental factors are monitored or/and manipulated for the optimization of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) production. However, use of this strategy is limited for the smolt production of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), as the effects of temperature and its int...

Scottish salmon is worth over £2 billion to the country’s economy. It is Scotland’s top food export and a particularly valuable product, at about 10% above the world price. Recently, the Scottish Government developed a plan that aims at doubling this production of salmon by 2030. However, a number of factors limit the progress of the industry in it...

Seawater-transferred rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) has become an attractive aquaculture product in recent years. Industrial interest is mainly due to its resistance to infectious pancreatic necrosis and its adaptability to brackish water, which allows farming in otherwise unexploited locations. However, most practices for the aquaculture of t...

Decapod crustaceans, such as those from the Homarus genus, are key benthic representatives that support very valuable fishing and aquaculture industries. Those commercially caught, such as the European lobster (H. gammarus) can be stored in live facilities for short (a few days) to long periods (up to 6 months) before being traded. Conditions in ca...

Photoperiod is thought to be the main zeitgeber that induces smoltification in salmonids. However, its effects on the smoltification of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are not fully understood and no published data documents the effects of the photoperiod regime currently used commercially, continuous light (LL). The present study compared the...

The production of seawater-transferred rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) has recently shown an increase in production, reaching 87,000 tones in Norway alone in 2016. However, an unwanted phenotype of the species is causing major economic losses, especially during the summer season, when the problem is most prevalent. After seawater transfer, a si...

Smoltification comprises a series of simultaneous, yet often independent, biochemical, physiological, morphological and behavioural changes that preadapt anadromous salmonids to life in seawater. This process has been extensively studied in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from an endocrine, physiological and gene expression point of view. However, in...

First steps towards biomarker discovery in salmonids using MALDI-TOF MS with special emphasis on the methods used

For decades, disruption of the bilateral symmetry of body structures has been related to underperformance and, hence, to fitness. In fish, this concept coupled with the claimed evidence for increased fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of pairs of hard structures, such as otoliths under conditions of stress, has led to the use of otolith FA (OFA) as a proxy...

Reliable predictions on population dynamics depend, among others, on accurate growth estimations, and the conventional approach for estimating growth consists in fitting the von Bertalanffy growth model to length at the age of capture data (i.e., a single observation per fish). 155 This method derives a single growth curve for all the population b...