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Fluctuations in Lengths and Numbers of Certain Species of Fishes over a Five‐Year Period in Whitmore Lake, Michigan
Author(s) -
Trautman Milton B.
Publication year - 1941
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(1940)70[193:filano]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - bass (fish) , predation , fishery , biology , population , predator , micropterus , fish <actinopterygii> , ecology , demography , sociology
Largemouth black bass, bluegills, and yellow and brown bullheads were taken annually in Whitmore Lake in the same manner and with the same types of legal tackle during the summers of 1934–1938. The length‐frequency curves obtained yearly for each species indicate an annual increase in average lengths from 1934 to 1937 and/or 1938. Fishes spawned in tile years 1931–1933 dominated between 1934 and 1936, and largemouth black bass of the 1931–1933 year classes apparently formed the principal fish predators in 1934 and 1935. In 1934 and 1935 the fry survival of all species was low, despite good hatches. Evidence indicates that the adult largemouth black bass population was low during 1936 and 1937; during these years the survival of fry of all species was high, although the hatches were seemingly no better than in previous years. The largemouth black bass hatched in 1936 and 1937 were exceedingly abundant in 1938, and unless a great reduction in their numbers occurred they might be sufficiently numerous to devour most of the fry produced by all species in the next few years. It is suggested that a predator‐prey relationship may exist, and that a relationship of this type may be the source of cyclic fluctuations in abundance.