Permanence and Size of Home Territory in Stream-Dwelling Cutthroat Trout

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Abstract
Gorge Creek is a small cutthroat trout stream in Alberta on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. In the summer of 1954, 98 trout were tagged with Petersen tags, weighed and returned to the pool of capture. In the same summer and in the next two, 58 of these trout were recaptured, some several times, so that, altogether, 83 records were obtained. Twenty-three records are of the first year, 35 from the second and 25 from the third.Sixty-seven per cent of the recaptures were made in the original pool or less than 200 yards from it. Of the remaining 33%, one fish had moved 1.5 miles upstream and remained there. The others had all drifted downstream. The drifters were smaller fish than those that stayed home, and they either lost weight or gained at rates considerably below normal. It is suggested these fish had been injured by the tags. The general conclusion is that each cutthroat trout of Gorge Creek has a home territory not over twenty yards long and that the whole life is spent in it.

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