Spinal and skeletal deformities in farmed salmon are preventable through nutritional and husbandry interventions with significant welfare implications.
Skeletal deformities cause ongoing welfare compromise through abnormal posture, impaired swimming, and potentially chronic musculoskeletal pain. Prevention through optimal nutrition - particularly vitamin C and phosphorus provision during development - and careful temperature management is more welfare-effective than managing impaired animals through production. Monitoring deformity rates provides population welfare indicators.