Abundance and Assemblage Structure of Fish Larvae in the Lower Missouri River and Its Tributaries
- 1 September 1994
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 123 (5) , 718-732
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1994)123<0718:aaasof>2.3.co;2
Abstract
Most of the backwater habitat in the floodplain of the lower Missouri River has been eliminated, but the lower reaches of tributaries have flow and depth characteristics similar to backwaters. We sampled the assemblages of fish larvae and age-0 juveniles in the lower 8 km of four tributaries and in the Missouri River main channel to determine the extent to which riverine species use these backwaters for early life history stages. We also sought to determine which tributary characteristics were associated with use by riverine species. Densities of 8 of the 10 fish taxa analyzed were greater in tributaries than in the Missouri River in 1987 and 1988. The composition of the larval fish fauna varied: carpsuckers Carpiodes spp., goldeye Hiodon alosoides, freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens, and common carp Cyprinus carpio occurred in large rivers; whereas mostly gizzard shad Dorsosoma cepedianum, nearctic cyprinids (mostly emerald shiner Notropis atherinoides and red shiner Cyprinella lutrensis), an...Keywords
This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: