1. Estimation of paddlefish (<italic>Polyodon spathula</italic> Walbaum, 1792) spawning habitat availability with consumer‐grade sonar.
- Author
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Schooley, J. D. and Neely, B. C.
- Subjects
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PADDLEFISH , *HABITATS , *SONAR equipment , *SPAWNING , *FISHERIES , *WATERSHEDS - Abstract
Summary: The paddlefish (
Polyodon spathula Walbaum, 1792) is a springtime migrant that requires discrete abiotic conditions such as water temperature, discharge, and substrate composition for successful spawning and recruitment. Although population declines have prevailed throughout much of the species range, Oklahoma paddlefish are abundant and support popular recreational snag fisheries – most notably in Grand Lake. This stock utilizes the Grand Lake's two primary headwaters, the Neosho and Spring rivers, with only episodic recruitment success. However, relationships between suitable spawning habitat and water level have not been evaluated in this system. Using consumer‐grade sonar equipment, this study identified and quantified hard river substrates (such as cobble and bedrock) and investigated proportional habitat availability at a variety of simulated river conditions. Sonar data were used to construct 49‐m2 grids of depth and bottom hardness (H ) ranging from 0.0 (soft) ‐ 0.5 (hard). Ground‐truthing samples of bottom composition were collected with a grab sampler and by visual identification. Substrate types were pooled into two categories: soft substrates (H <H ≥- Published
- 2018
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