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Spawning and Rearing Habitat Use by White Sturgeons in the Columbia River Downstream from McNary Dam
Author(s) -
Parsley Michael J.,
Beckman Lance G.,
McCabe George T.
Publication year - 1993
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(1993)122<0217:sarhub>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - cobble , silt , bedrock , water column , substrate (aquarium) , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , fishery , habitat , environmental science , oceanography , geomorphology , ecology , biology , geotechnical engineering
Spawning and rearing habitats used by white sturgeons Acipenser transmontanus were described from water temperature, depth, and velocity measurements and substrate types present at sites where eggs, larvae, young‐of‐the‐year, and juveniles (ages 1–7) were collected. Spawning and egg incubation occurred in the swiftest water available (mean water column velocity, 0.8–2.8 m/s), which was within 8 km downstream from each of the four main‐stem Columbia River dams in our study area. Substrates where spawning occurred were mainly cobble, boulder, and bedrock. Yolk‐sac larvae were transported by the river currents from spawning areas into deeper areas with lower water velocities and finer substrates. Young‐of‐the‐year white sturgeons were found at depths of 9–57 m, at mean water column velocities of 0.6 m/s and less, and over substrates of hard clay, mud and silt, sand, gravel, and cobble. Juvenile fish were found at depths of 2–58 m, at mean water column velocities of 1.2 m/s and less, and over substrates of hard clay, mud and silt, sand, gravel, cobble, boulder, and bedrock.