Observations of Movements and Habitat Preferences of Burbot in an Alaskan Glacial River System

Abstract

We studied the movements of burbot Lota lota from October 1983 to December 1984 in the upper reaches of the Tanana River, a glacial tributary of the Yukon River in eastern Alaska. We surgically implanted radio transmitters into 21 burbot and monitored the fish by aerial telemetry once every 3 weeks. Fish were relocated up to 68 km downstream and 84 km upstream from release sites. The longest combined upstream and downstream movement observed for an individual fish was 125 km. Burbot were usually relocated in the main river channel, even during summer when peak flows caused high turbidity and channel scouring. Although burbot moved about during all seasons, their longest movements occurred during November–March, the normal period of spawning activity.

Population genetic structure of North American burbot (Lota lota maculosa) across the Nearctic and at its contact zone with Eurasian burbot (Lota lota lota)

“…Because burbot is a good disperser (Breeser et al 1988;Barluenga et al 2006), this relationship may be particularly nonlinear; geographically proximate populations may nonetheless be in different water drainages, which impedes contemporary migration and disrupts the relationship between geographic distance and gene flow (McRae 2006). This is most obvious, for example, between populations west versus east of the continental di- Note: All differences are significant (P < 0.05) except the two noted in bold.…”

“…Adults prefer cold (10-12 8C), well-oxygenated water and are quite sedentary most of the time, remaining often concealed in deep-water shelters when not foraging. However, during their highly synchronized winter spawning, adults migrate over very long distances (Breeser et al 1988) to spawn in cold, shallow waters during the winter or early spring. Whether this spawning is aggregate or individual is not clear.…”

Does Stream Morphology Predict the Home Range Size in Burbot?

“…It undertakes extensive reproductive migrations from the sea to rivers (Mu¨ller & Berg 1982) and within rivers (Breeser et al 1988, Paragamian 2000. The burbot is a nocturnal predator, however, data from northern Europe have also documented its activity during daylight hours (Mu¨ller 1978).…”

Kootenai River Fisheries Investigation; Stock Status of Burbot, 2004-2005 Annual Report.

“…Because burbot normally move long distances to spawn (Breeser et al 1988;Schram 2000) and are slow in migration rate , they need adequate time to travel distances of 120 km or more to reach some spawning locations in the Kootenai River . Thus, the actual temperature at spawning may not be as important as the cooling of the river during October and November to initiate spawning migration.…”