Skip to main content
Advanced Search

Filters: Tags: Environmental Biology of Fishes (X)

147 results (80ms)   

View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV
thumbnail
Predation is an unforgiving selective pressure affecting the life history, morphology and behaviour of prey organisms. Selection should favour organisms that have the ability to correctly assess the information content of alarm cues. This study investigated whether adult sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus habituate to conspecific damage-released alarm cues (fresh and decayed sea lamprey extract), a heterospecific damage-released alarm cue (white sucker Catostomus commersoniiextract), predator cues (Northern water snake Nerodia sipedon washing, human saliva and 2-phenylethylamine hydrochloride (PEA HCl)) and a conspecific damage-released alarm cue and predator cue combination (fresh sea lamprey extract and human saliva)...
thumbnail
Ontogenetic behavior of Hudson River Atlantic sturgeon and Connecticut River shortnose sturgeon early life intervals were similar during laboratory observations. After hatching, free embryos were photonegative and sought cover. When embryos developed into larvae, fish left cover, were photopositive, and initiated downstream migration. Free embryos may remain at the spawning site instead of migrating downstream because the risk of predation at spawning sites is low. The two species are sympatric, but not closely related, so the similarities in innate behaviors suggest common adaptations, not phylogenetlc relationship. Atlantic sturgeon migrated downstream for 12 days (peak, first 6 days), shortnose sturgeon migrated...
thumbnail
Crayfish are not native to the Colorado River basin (CRB), however they are now established in portions of the mainstem and in many tributaries. I used density manipulation experiments in a laboratory setting to determine intra- and interspecific competition for food between Orconectes virilis, an aggressive polytrophic crayfish now common in the CRB, and two native fishes: Gila chub, Gila intermedia, and flannelmouth sucker, Catostomus latipinnis. I tested each fish species in separate trials. Growth of Gila chub decreased when animal densities increased, however they were more affected by intraspecific competition than by crayfish presence. In contrast, growth of flannelmouth suckers was more affected by crayfish...
thumbnail
In telemetry studies, premature tag failure causes negative bias in fish survival estimates because tag failure is interpreted as fish mortality. We used mark-recapture modeling to adjust estimates of fish survival for a previous study where premature tag failure was documented. High rates of tag failure occurred during the Vernalis Adaptive Management Plan’s (VAMP) 2008 study to estimate survival of fall-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) during migration through the San Joaquin River and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California. Due to a high rate of tag failure, the observed travel time distribution was likely negatively biased, resulting in an underestimate of tag survival probability in this study....
thumbnail
We used ultrasonic telemetry to determine the movement directions and movement rates of leopard sharks, Triakis semifasciata, in Tomales Bay, California. To analyze tide and time of day effects, we surgically implanted transmitters in the peritoneal cavities of one male and five female leopard sharks, which we located during summer for three to five sampling sessions lasting 12 to 24 h each. All leopard sharks showed strong movement direction patterns with tide. During incoming tides, sharks moved significantly (p<0.0001) towards the inner bay, apparently to exploit the extensive inner bay muddy littoral zones' food resources. On outgoing tides, sharks showed significant (p<0.0001) movements towards the outer bay....
thumbnail
Dams throughout western North America have altered thermal regimes in rivers, creating cold, clear “tailwaters” in which trout populations thrive. Ongoing drought in the region has led to highly publicized reductions in reservoir storage and raised concerns about potential reductions in downstream flows. Large changes in riverine thermal regimes may also occur as reservoir water levels drop, yet this potential impact has received far less attention. We analyzed historic water temperature and fish population data to anticipate how trout may respond to future changes in the magnitude and seasonality of river temperatures. We found that summer temperatures were inversely related to reservoir water level, with warm...
thumbnail
We conducted laboratory studies on the ontogenetic behavior of free embryos (first life interval after hatching) and larvae (first feeding interval) of pallid and shovelnose sturgeon. Migration styles of both species were similar for timing of migration (initiation by embryos on day 0 after hatching and cessation by larvae on days 12-13 at 236-243 cumulative temperature degree units), migration distance (about 13 km), life interval when most distance was moved (embryo), and diel behavior of embryos (diurnal). However, the species differed for two behaviors: movement characteristics of embryos (peak movement rate of pallid sturgeon was only one-half the peak rate of shovelnose sturgeon, but pallid sturgeon continued...
thumbnail
Several studies have demonstrated intraspecific variation in fish gill size that relates to variation in dissolved oxygen (DO) availability across habitats. In Lake Nabugabo, East Africa, ecological change over the past 12 years has coincided with a shift in the distribution of introduced Nile perch such that a larger proportion of the population now inhabits waters in or near wetland ecotones where DO is lower than in open waters of the lake. In this study, we compared gill size of juvenile Nile perch between wetland and exposed (open-water) habitats of Lake Nabugabo in 2007, as well as between Nile perch collected in 1996 and 2007. For Nile perch of Lake Nabugabo [<20 cm total length (TL)], there was a significant...
thumbnail
The associations of resident fish communities with environmental variables and stream condition were evaluated at representative sites within the Sacramento River Basin, California between 1996 and 1998 using multivariate ordination techniques and by calculating six fish community metrics. In addition, the results of the current study were compared with recent studies in the San Joaquin River drainage to provide a wider perspective of the condition of resident fish communities in the Central Valley of California as a whole. Within the Sacramento drainage, species distributions were correlated with elevational and substrate size gradients; however, the elevation of a sampling site was correlated with a suite of water-quality...
thumbnail
We report the first published accounts of spawning behavior and spawning site selection of the flannelmouth sucker in two small tributaries of the lower Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Spawning was observed on 20 March 1992 and from 28 March to 10 April 1993 in the Paria River, and from 16 to 19 March 1993 in Bright Angel Creek. Flannelmouth suckers exhibited promiscuous spawning behavior-individual females were typically paired with two or more males for a given event and sometimes changed partners between events. Multiple egg deposits by different females sometimes occurred at one spawning site. Flannelmouth sucker selected substrates from 16 to 32 mm diameter in both streams. Spawning occurred at...
thumbnail
In Arctic ecosystems, freshwater fish migrate seasonally between productive shallow water habitats that freeze in winter and deep overwinter refuge in rivers and lakes. How these movements relate to seasonal hydrology is not well understood. We used passive integrated transponder tags and stream wide antennae to track 1035 Arctic grayling in Crea Creek, a seasonally flowing beaded stream on the Arctic Coastal Plain, Alaska. Migration of juvenile and adult fish into Crea Creek peaked in June immediately after ice break-up in the stream. Fish that entered the stream during periods of high flow and cold stream temperature traveled farther upstream than those entering during periods of lower flow and warmer temperature....
thumbnail
Reservoirs impounded over floodplain rivers are unique because they may include within their upper reaches extensive shallow water stored over preexistent floodplains. Because of their relatively flat topography and riverine origin, floodplains in the upper reaches of reservoirs provide broad expanses of vegetation within a narrow range of reservoir water levels. Elsewhere in the reservoir, topography creates a band of shallow water along the contour of the reservoir where vegetation often does not grow. Thus, as water levels rise, floodplains may be the first vegetated habitats inundated within the reservoir. We hypothesized that shallow water in reservoir floodplains would attract spawning white crappies Pomoxis...
thumbnail
Juvenile salmonids,Oncorhynchus spp., commonly encounter conditions (e.g., during hatchery release and dam passage) that result in damage to the skin, scale, and slime complex. We conducted laboratory experiments to determine if descaling of juvenile chinook salmon,O. tshawytscha, increased their vulnerability to predation, and to assess the physiological stress responses elicited by descaling. Salmon were experimentally descaled on either 10% or 20% of their total body area. When offered equal numbers of control and descaled juvenile chinook salmon, northern squawfish,Ptychocheilus oregonensis, did not consume significantly more of either prey type (48–60% of consumed prey were descaled). Juvenile chinook salmon...
thumbnail
We documented species' distributions, size structure of populations, abundance in mainstem and tributary streams, habitat use, and diets of prickly sculpin, Cottus asper, and coastrange sculpin, C. aleuticus, in the Eel River drainage of California, to determine the processes allowing coexistence of these very similar fishes. We observed prickly sculpins at 43 sites and coastrange sculpins at 34. The species co-occurred at 26 sites. Young-of-year coastrange sculpins were only observed within 42 km of the ocean, but young-of-year prickly sculpins were present throughout the species range. Mean, maximum, and minimum lengths of coastrange sculpins were positively correlated with distance from the ocean but no significant...
Threatened fishes of the world: Iotichthys phlegethontis Cope, 1874 (Cyprinidae), credited to Belk, Mark C, published in 2004. Published in Environmental Biology of Fishes, volume 71, on pages 378 - 378, in 2004.
We report the first published accounts of spawning behavior and spawning site selection of the flannelmouth sucker in two small tributaries of the lower Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Spawning was observed on 20 March 1992 and from 28 March to 10 April 1993 in the Paria River, and from 16 to 19 March 1993 in Bright Angel Creek. Flannelmouth suckers exhibited promiscuous spawning behavior–individual females were typically paired with two or more males for a given event and sometimes changed partners between events. Multiple egg deposits by different females sometimes occurred at one spawning site. Flannelmouth sucker selected substrates from 16 to 32 mm diameter in both streams. Spawning occurred...
thumbnail
Recent studies of recruitment dynamics in demersal fishes have placed major emphasis on presettlement mortality, and little on events bridging late larval and early juvenile periods. Observations on 68 taxa of Caribbean coral reef fishes before and during settlement revealed the existence of a distinct post-settlement life phase called the transition juvenile, associated with the act of recruitment. Transition juveniles were found as solitary individuals, in conspecific groups, or in heterospecific groups. The groups were either uniform or heterogenous in appearance. The complexity of the transition phase and its apparently widespread occurrence in coral reef fishes suggests that important aspects of population...
thumbnail
This study compares simple fish communities of ten oligotrophic lakes in south-central Ontario. Species densities and population size structure vary significantly among these lake communities depending on fish species present beyond the littoral zone. Lake whitefish are fewer and larger in the presence of lake herring than in their absence. Diet analysis indicates that lake whitefish shift from feeding on both plankton and benthic prey when lake herring are absent to a primarily benthic feeding niche in the presence of lake herring. When benthic round whitefish are present, lake whitefish size and density decline and they move lower in the lake compared to round whitefish. Burbot are also fewer and larger in lakes...


map background search result map search result map Adjusting survival estimates for premature transmitter failure: A case study from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Adjusting survival estimates for premature transmitter failure: A case study from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta