Premium
Diurnal Activity of the Common Sucker, Catostomus Commersonnii (Lacépède), and the Rock Bass, Ambloplites Rupestris (Rafinesque), in Muskellunge Lake
Author(s) -
Spoor William A.,
Schloemer Clarence L.
Publication year - 1939
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1938)68[211:daotcs]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fishery , morning , bass (fish) , sucker , biology , zoology , environmental science , oceanography , geology , botany
Gill nets set in Muskellunge Lake, Vilas County, Wisconsin, were examined at 2‐ to 4‐hour intervals throughout ten 24‐hour periods during the summers of 1933 to 1937 to determine the activity of suckers and rock base during the day and night. The rate at which suckers were captured at depths around 6 meters was highest during the periods 3 to 5 a.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. and lowest during the periods 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The rate of capture was high at midday at depths around 8 meters. There is evidence that the suckers move inshore in the evening and offshore in the morning. Although the hourly fluctuations in the catch may have been caused by rhythmic changes in the activity of the fish, it seems more probable that they were caused by fluctuations in abundance in the vicinity of the nets which resulted from the inshore and offshore movements. The rock bass were captured in far greater numbers at night than in the daytime. The rate of capture was highest between 7 and 9 p.m., but remained relatively high throughout the night. The rate increased slightly between 3 and 4 a.m. Apparently increased visibility was the chief cause of the decrease in the rate of capture during the day. However, there is evidence that rock bass undergo periodic changes in activity. The results offer very little evidence of daily inshore and offshore movements. Apparently the rock bass moved at random in the vicinity of the nets.