Diel activity patterns of lake chubs and other fishes in a temperate stream

Abstract

Baited and unbaited minnow traps were set in Catamaran Brook and the Little Southwest Miramichi River, New Brunswick, and checked every 4 h to determine the diel activity pattern of four species of stream-dwelling fish (threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), juvenile white sucker (Catostomus commersoni), blacknose dace (Rhinichthys atratulus), and lake chub (Couesius plumbeus)). Secondary goals were to determine whether the presence of bait inside minnow traps affected the diel patterns of captures and to compare patterns of lake chub captures in minnow traps with movement through a nearby fish-counting fence. All fish except lake chubs were diurnal, although strict diurnality was less obvious when bait was present in the traps. Lake chubs, which are normally diurnal in the laboratory, were captured mostly near dawn or dusk in unbaited traps, throughout the day in baited traps, and mostly at night at the fish-counting fence. We infer that chubs are active mostly at dawn or dusk, except (i) when strong food cues are present, in which case their activity may extend into the day, and (ii) during the spawning migration, when they move mostly at night. Relative inactivity by chubs during the day may be caused by the presence of piscivorous birds such as kingfishers and common mergansers, whose hunting efficiency may be higher under brighter light.