Title
Spawning and larval drift of sympatric walleye and white suckers in an Ontario stream
Publication Date
1986
Keywords
spawning, sucker, walleye, white suckers, reproduction, riffle, survival, Substrate, yellow perch, perch, eggs, predation, larvae, adult, food
Journal or Book Title
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
Abstract
Walleyes (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) and white suckers (Catostomus commersoni)shared a common spawning ground in Apsley Creek. Their reproduction overlapped in time, butwhite suckers spawned mainly in the riffle zone (710 eggs/m2) and rarely in quiet water (0.5eggs/m 2) surrounding the riffle. In contrast, walleyes spawned more in quiet water (6,241eggs/m2) than in the riffle (65 eggs/m2). Walleye egg survival was higher on a sand-gravel-rocksubstrate than it was on a mud-detritus bottom. Spottail shiners Notropis hudsonius) and yellowperch (Perca flavescens) fed extensively on walleye eggs; predation on white sucker eggs wasnot detected. Larva drift of both species was passive, varying with stream velocity, and occurredduring periods of decreasing light (2100-0100 hours). Although eggs of both species beganhatching on May 7, white sucker larvae drifted 11-13 d after walleye larvae. There was noindication that walleyes and white suckers competed for spawning areas as adults or for food aslarvae.
Pages
41-46
Volume
115