Tracy, I wasn't aware that the Camelot Bell line were Todd's. Are these the F1s?
Good question - there is an 1980 vintage study on fast growing LMB. I wonder if aggressiveness and learning ability are related but not the same. Some of the early fast growing offspring of big LMB were very aggressive and often were quickly eaten by larger predators because they took more risk in feeding. But a few of the aggressive fast growing LMB offspring of big LMB ended up being huge.
The traits seem to be interlaced to some degree. The authors who developed high (HVF) a low (LVF) vulnerability lines also noted differentiated growth within the lines. In one work they noted that the larger males of the HVF line were most fit for reproduction. The received more eggs and sired more swim up too. So there seems to opportunity to, especially noting your comment above, to select for fast growth within the HVF line.
I have given a fair amount of thought about the most appropriate traits for artificial selection. As time goes by, I lean further from growth as primary trait. Not that it is not important but rather it seems to be secondary to other important traits. For example, for BG it may be much better to have a line that consistently lives for 8 to 10 years over one that grows to 1 lbs in two years. Interesting stuff indeed.
