Premium
Influence of Water Quality and Season on Habitat Use by Striped Bass in a Large Southwestern Reservoir
Author(s) -
Matthews William J.,
Hill Loren G.,
Edds David R.,
Gelwick Frances P.
Publication year - 1989
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(1989)118<0243:iowqas>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - bass (fish) , fishery , habitat , abundance (ecology) , catch per unit effort , environmental science , morone saxatilis , water quality , morone , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , zoology , ecology
A large, multiyear (1981–1986) gillnetting data set was used to assess patterns of seasonal habitat use by striped bass Morone saxatilis in Lake Texoma, Oklahoma–Texas. Large (>2.27 kg), medium (1.36–2.27 kg), and small (< 1.36 kg but not including age‐0 individuals) fish exhibited different patterns of seasonal abundance in a study area about 40 km uplake from the dam. Large fish were never taken in the study area in June, July, August, or September, or when surface water temperatures exceeded 22°C. Abundance of medium‐sized fish was significantly lower during June–September and when temperatures were above 22°C than in other months and at cooler temperatures. Small fish remained abundant in the uplake area all year but were almost never collected at dissolved oxygen concentrations less than 6.0 mg/L in summer. Substantial numbers of small fish were collected at temperatures as high as 29°C, but their catch per unit effort dropped from a mean of 11.8/net at 28°C to 1.9/net at 30°C. Our results supported the thermal niche hypothesis for striped bass, and the response of small striped bass to high temperatures was similar to that reported previously.