Use of a Cold-Water Refuge by Rainbow and Brown Trout in a Geothermally Heated Stream

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Abstract
The Firehole River of Yellowstone National Park receives substantial amounts of geothermally heated water, which raise river temperatures by about 12°C. We have recorded summer temperatures as high as 28.8°C in the lower section of the river. During the warmest part of the summer, rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) and brown trout (S. trutta) from the river concentrate in Sentinel Creek, the only cold-water tributary along the lower Firehole River. These movements into the creek appear to be related to mean daily temperatures exceeding 24°C, or daily maximums exceeding 25°C. Aggregations offish from cooler waters to heated discharge areas have been extensively documented; however, this contrasting situation offish from a heated body of water concentrating at a cold-water influent area has been reported only once previously and involved a warm-water species.

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