Apparent Survival and Detection Estimates for PIT‐Tagged Slimy Sculpin in Five Small New Brunswick Streams

Abstract

The slimy sculpin Cottus cognatus is an abundant and widespread benthic fish that inhabits cold lakes and rivers in North America. The objective of this study was to estimate survival and detection probabilities for slimy sculpin in relation to several environmental and biological predictors. Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags were implanted into 337 adult slimy sculpin in five tributaries of the Kennebecasis River, New Brunswick, Canada. A portable PIT tag antenna was used to search for marked individuals from June 2003 to July 2004. Cormack–Jolly–Seber open population models were used to test several predictions and to estimate apparent survival and detection probabilities. We found that survival was high (73–99%) among sampling events; the average period was about 4 weeks (range, <1–22 weeks). Survival was positively related to fish length and negatively related to maximum stream discharge. The mean detection probability of tagged sculpin was 0.80, but it varied among sampling events and with respect to the minimum electrical current of our antenna and the percentage of boulder substrate at the site. This study demonstrates that a portable PIT tag system can be used in conjunction with capture–mark–recapture models to acquire an understanding of the basic life history characteristics of slimy sculpin and possibly other small‐bodied fish in freshwater systems.

Movement and Habitat Use by Mottled Sculpin After Restoration of a Sand-Dominated 1st-Order Stream

“…Many authors postulate that the concept of restricted movement is erroneous for many stream fishes, as study reaches were insufficient to capture the actual home range (Gowan et al, 1994;Albanese et al, 2003;Knaepkens et al, 2005). More extensive mark-recapture surveys (Skalski and Gilliam, 2000) and surveys using telemetry (Keeler et al, 2007;Breen et al, 2009) indicate sedentary fishes (e.g., chubs, genera Gila and Semotilus; sculpins) may move relatively long distances. The overall detection rate of 59% in this study is similar to rates from other PIT tag studies on small-bodied benthic species (55% Cookingham and Ruetz III, 2008;76% Breen et al, 2009).…”

Determining the effects of species, environmental conditions and tracking method on the detection efficiency of portable PIT telemetry

“…The performance of portable PIT telemetry is a function of tag size and transmission type; the highest reported detection distance (tag orthogonal to the antenna) is 100 cm with 23 mm half‐duplex PIT tags (Roussel et al , 2000; Linnansaari et al , 2007) but only 36 cm with 12 mm full‐duplex PIT tags (Cucherousset et al , 2005). Notwithstanding, there are also many other factors that affect detection efficiency, including the presence of habitat features such as undercut banks, deep holes, boulder substrate and woody debris (Keeler et al , 2007; Cucherousset et al , 2008). Although these do not directly affect detection distance, they modify the ability of the operator to efficiently scan these habitats and enable the fishes to lie outside of the detection range (Linnansaari et al , 2007).…”

Weak effects of a microsporidian parasite on mottled sculpin in Michigan streams

“…Controlled experiments that manipulate infection intensity of Glugea are needed to establish the relationship between severity of the infection and the physiological costs to mottled sculpin. Moreover, assessing population-level characteristics over time (e.g., abundance and mortality rate), such as implementing tagging studies (Keeler et al 2007), may provide a stronger tool to detect subtle population-level effects of the Glugea parasite on mottled sculpin.…”