Spawning and Early-Life Ecological Phases of the White Sucker in Jack Lake, Ontario
- 2 March 1983
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 112 (2B) , 308-313
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1983)112<308:saeepo>2.0.co;2
Abstract
In 1979, peak spawning of white suckers Catostomus commersoni occurred on April 20–21 (9–15 C and 17–22 C) at night over fast riffle in a tributary of Jack Lake. Eggs hatched in 16 days and drift occurred in 27–29 days; maximum drift occurred between 2100 and 0100 hours. An estimated 11,800 postlarvae drifted to the nursery, a new boat channel and marina area in Jack Lake. Postlarva phase 1 (terminal mouth, 15–17 mm total length, TL) and phase 2 (subterminal mouth, 18–34 mm TL) were spent in the nursery. At 28 C (midsummer), phase‐3 fish (35–84 mm TL) moved out to the lake shores near the nursery, and later dispersed into the lake basin. Growth of white suckers was slower in phase 1 than in phase 2, and diets differed slightly between these intervals. Phase‐3 fish did not grow significantly faster than phase‐2 fish in spite of their more diverse diet. The cooler lake habitat may account for a lack of surge in the growth rate of phase‐3 fish, or diversity of food may be an indication of food scarcity away from the nutrient‐rich nursery area.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: