Role of Hypoxia in Limiting Diel Spring and Summer Distribution of Juvenile Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) in a Prairie Marsh

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 1562-1570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain M. Suthers ◽  
John H. Gee

Comparative field and laboratory data on the distribution-limiting levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) for yearling yellow perch (Perca flavescens) is presented. At Blind Channel, Delta Marsh, Manitoba, diel fluctuations in DO concentrations began by June, approximately 6 wk after ice-off. By early July severe hypoxia (≤ 1.5 ppm DO) first occurred in the cattail habitat close to the substrate at dawn, and by early August severe hypoxia extended throughout the cattail bed. Using wire minnow traps, juvenile perch persisted within the cattails close to the substrate in June. In early July, juvenile perch occupied the submerged macrophyte – open water habitat, away from the cattail and hypoxia. Significant diel changes in horizontal distribution were evident at one site, where fish avoided severe hypoxia in the cattail bed overnight but returned during the day, as there was little alternative cover and when DO levels were not lethal. In situ survival experiments demonstrated decreased survival close to the substrate, in the cattail, and overnight compared with overday, reflecting the distribution of low DO. Survival increased 27% over the control by bubbling oxygen into holding cages. In a two-chambered normoxic/hypoxic tank, perch demonstrated a preference for cover, and avoidance of hypoxia at 1.5–3.0 ppm DO. The habitat choice of juvenile yellow perch in Delta Marsh is a compromise between the cattail, with favorable predator/prey conditions, and hypoxia.

1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 2104-2109 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. C. Poole ◽  
T. A. Dick

During a fish parasite survey in 1980 and 1981, 395 yellow perch (Perca flavescens) were removed from the Heming Lake study area (54°53′ N, 101°07′ W). Encysted Apophallus brevis metacercariae were found in the body musculature of perch from six lakes as well as the eye and body musculature of perch in Heming Lake. Species identity was confirmed with experimental infections in ring-billed (Larus delawarensis) and herring (Larus argentatus) gulls. No significant differences were found in prevalences or mean intensities of A. brevis metacercariae between male and female perch in Heming Lake. Prevalence levels remained high in most age-classes of Heming Lake perch and mean intensity differences were not significant for all ages beyond 1 year old. Slight variations from these Heming Lake results were found in other lakes. Prevalence levels of A. brevis in Heming Lake perch remained more or less constant during the open water seasons. Mean intensities dropped significantly from June to July and increased in August and October. Monthly fluctuations are probably the result of recruitment of the parasite and a loss of heavily infected hosts. The variance to mean ratios of A. brevis in perch from Heming, Home, and Demarch lakes showed that these parasite populations were overdispersed, and the distribution of each was found to fit the negative binomial. The authors question the use of variance to mean ratios or other statistics dealing with overdispersion in predicting loss or recruitment for all parasite systems.


1995 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 464-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd M. Koel ◽  
John J. Peterka

Laboratory-based bioassays were conducted to determine concentrations of sodium-sulfate type salinities that limit the hatching success of several fish species. Survival to hatching (SH) was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in sodium-sulfate type waters from Devils Lake, North Dakota, of ≥ 2400 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS) than in fresh water of 200 mg/L. In waters of 200, 1150, 2400, 4250, and 6350 mg/L TDS, walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) SH was 41, 38, 7, 1, and 0%; northern pike (Esox lucius) SH was 92, 68, 33, 2, and 0%; yellow perch (Perca flavescens) SH was 88, 70, 73, 0, and 0%; white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) SH was 87, 95, 66, 0, and 0%; common carp (Cyprinus carpio) SH was 71, 69, 49, 63, and 25%.


1992 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 2474-2482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay A. Nelson ◽  
John J. Magnuson

Little is known about the animals that occupy naturally acidic habitats. To better understand the physiological state of animals from temperate, naturally acidic systems, we compared metabolite stores and meristics of two yellow perch (Perca flavescens) populations in northern Wisconsin. One population originated from a naturally acidic, dystrophic lake (Acid-Lake-Perch, ALP) and had previously been shown to have enhanced tolerance to low pH. The second population came from two nearby interconnected circumneutral, mesotrophic lakes (Neutral-Lake-Perch, NLP). Perch were collected throughout the year to account for seasonal effects and to discern whether patterns of metabolite utilization differed between populations. ALP had smaller livers containing less glycogen and greater muscle glycogen content than NLP. The ALP also had significantly greater liver and visceral lipid contents, and females from this population committed a greater fraction of their body mass to egg production. We interpret these results as indicative of physiological divergence at the population level in yellow perch. These results are discussed as possible products of H+ -driven changes in metabolism and as possible products of different life history strategies between populations. Our results also show that perch living in acidic, dystrophic Wharton Lake are not acid stressed.


1977 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1774-1783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd L. Smith Jr.

In an investigation of the commercial fishery of Red Lakes, Minnesota, for the 46-yr period 1930–75, catch statistics were analyzed, and the dynamics of the perch and walleye populations were examined. Mean annual yields of walleye for two statistical periods, 1930–53 and 1954–75, were 309,900 and 245,100 kg, respectively for walleyes, and 96,400 and 109,500 kg for perch. Annual abundance (CPE based on average catches per day per 5-net units of gill nets) varied from 3.8 to 64.6 kg for walleye, and from 2.5 to 34.4 kg for perch. Causes of fluctuations in harvestable stock were directly related to strength of year-classes and to growth rate during the season of capture. Year-class strength was not related to the abundance of parent stock or of potential predators. The respective strengths of year-classes of perch and walleye in the same year were positively correlated (r = 0.859, P < 0.01), and are directly related to climatic factors. Growth rate of walleye in different calendar years varied from +30.7 to −42.2% of mean growth, and that of perch from +13.4 to −8.6% (1941–56). Growing season began in mid-June and was almost over by September 1. Walleye yield could be enhanced by starting harvest July 1 instead of early June. Perch yield could be improved by harvesting small perch. Key words: Percidae, Perca, population dynamics, Stizostedion, long-term yield


1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 1903-1915 ◽  
Author(s):  
S A Thayer ◽  
R C Haas ◽  
R D Hunter ◽  
R H Kushler

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in enclosures located in an experimental pond adjacent to Lake St. Clair, Michigan, increased sedimentation rate but had relatively minor effects on percent organic matter and percent nitrogen content of sediment. In contrast, sediment from Lake St. Clair adjacent to zebra mussels was significantly higher in carbon than that 0.5 m away. Zebra mussels increase the nutritional value of surficial sediment and provide greater structural heterogeneity, which is probably more important in causing change among zoobenthos. Zoobenthos and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) diet were dominated by dipteran larvae and leeches. Zoobenthos was significantly different between enclosures with and without zebra mussels. Treatments with zebra mussels had significantly more oligochaetes and tended to have more crustaceans (isopods and amphipods). In June, yellow perch without zebra mussels consumed significantly more zooplankton, and those with mussels had more crustaceans in their diet. Zooplankton density was greater in treatments without zebra mussels. Yellow perch with zebra mussels grew significantly more than those without mussels. Zebra mussels in the enclosures neither reproduced nor were eaten by yellow perch; hence. the observed growth differences were due to indirect effects involving zebra mussel induced changes in benthic structure and biota.


1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 3237-3240 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. K. Cone ◽  
M. D. B. Burt

This study examines the behaviour of Urocleidus adspectus on the gills of yellow perch (Perca flavescens). The adult worm is found firmly attached to the gills of the host with the haptor fitted snugly into an interlamellar space and with four large hamuli and 14 small marginal hooks impaled into the adjacent epithelium. The forebody of the worm is almost always directed downstream toward the tip of the primary lamella. The worm is a tissue feeder and the reach and flexibility of the forebody allow efficient grazing around any one site of attachment. Worms can graze farther by moving to a new site of attachment. This involves a leechlike movement in which the haptor and the head are alternately used as the organ of attachment. The movement is brief (3 s or less) and, most likely in response to the threat of dislodgment, only single relocations are made at any one time. The worm almost always comes to lie in the preferred adhesive attitude no matter what the direction of travel under natural conditions. However, under experimental conditions in which there was no water flow, the position was occasionally reversed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Szalai ◽  
Walter Lysack ◽  
Terry A. Dick

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