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Overwinter Habitat Use of Shovelnose Sturgeon in the Kansas River
Author(s) -
Quist Michael C.,
Tillma Jeff S.,
Burlingame Matthew N.,
Guy Christopher S.
Publication year - 1999
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(1999)128<0522:ohuoss>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - sturgeon , lake sturgeon , current (fluid) , habitat , fishery , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , shore , fish <actinopterygii> , zoology , biology , ecology , oceanography , geology , acipenser , geotechnical engineering
Overwinter habitat use of shovelnose sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus in the Kansas River was determined by radiotelemetry from November 1996 to March 1997 at water temperatures of 2–9°C. Eighty percent of the shovelnose sturgeon locations were in water depths of 1.0–2.0 m, where current velocities were 0.01–1.11 m/s at the surface and 0.02–0.79 m/s at the bottom. Depths and surface current velocities at fish locations were positively related to discharge ( r = 0.47, P = 0.0001; r = 0.60, P = 0.0001, respectively); bottom current velocities were not significantly correlated ( r = 0.08, P = 0.31) with discharge. Water depths, surface current velocities, and bottom current velocities were not significantly related to water temperature ( P > 0.05). Ninety‐two percent of the shovelnose sturgeon locations were over sand substrate. Inside‐bend macrohabitats were used in proportion to their abundance ( P > 0.05), whereas channel crossovers were used in greater proportion than their availability ( P ≤ 0.05); outside‐bend habitats were avoided ( P ≤ 0.05). During high discharge (>150 m 3 /s), shovelnose sturgeon appeared to move near shore or downstream of instream cover. Most shovelnose sturgeon moved less than 2 km during the study period, but one fish moved more than 8 km. Movement (km/d) and directional movement (i.e., upstream or downstream) were not related to discharge or water temperature ( P > 0.05). These data indicate that shovelnose sturgeon use channel‐crossover macrohabitats and areas with bottom velocities of 0.02–0.79 m/s, independent of discharge. In addition, it appears that shovelnose sturgeon do not congregate in deep areas at water temperatures less than 9°C.