Breeding-season habitat use by sticklebacks (Pisces: Gasterosteidae) at Isle Verte, Quebec

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Abstract
We examined habitat use patterns of three species of sticklebacks as they moved from the St. Lawrence estuary into tidal salt marsh pools to breed. All three species apparently avoided pools that dried out and settled more often in pools that retained their water. Habitat choice by immigrants was not influenced by either the presence of the most aggressive species or by resident fish density. Movements of fish into the marsh and densities of fish in the pools peaked on the first days of the approximately 7-day flooding cycles, and declined thereafter. Thus, large numbers of fish moved away from these pools after initially settling in them, but the reason for this and the subsequent fate of the fish is unknown.