Spawning migrations of the chub in the River Spree, Germany

Abstract

Out of 52 chub Leuciscus cephalus tagged with internal radio‐transmitters, 46 migrated to spawning grounds in the River Spree, Germany. All chub started their first spawning migration on 21–22 May in both years of study, 1995 and 1996. They arrived at three different spawning grounds within a day and left after 1 to 6 days to return to their original sites. On 17 and 18 June 1995 and 1996 chub started their second spawning migration with the same pattern as the first. About 60% of all migrating chub moved between 1 and 13 km upstream to the nearest spawning ground. Some exceptions were observed: a few chub did not use the nearest spawning ground, some chub used different spawning grounds at first and second spawning or moved downstream to a spawning ground. Spawning grounds were characterized by 0·4 m s−1 current velocity, shallow depth (0·1–0·8 m) and a stony bottom, where most eggs adhered.

Multiscale approach of fish responses to different types of environmental contaminations: A case study

“…Histological observations of chubs ovaries corroborate the fact that chub is a multiple spawner (Nunn et al, 2002;Fredrich et al, 2003) since stage 4 oocytes (exogenous vitellogenesis) were still present in fish that had already laid a first batch of eggs (presence of postovulatory atretic follicles in ovaries). However, the differences found in the distribution of oocyte stages in ovaries of females caught at the different sampling sites are difficult to explain since oogenesis is highly dependent on local environmental conditions and is therefore not perfectly synchronized among individuals from the different stations.…”

Scale analysis suggests frequent skipping of the second reproductive season in Atlantic herring

“…Reiter & Le Boeuf 1991; Danchin & Cam 2002;Broderick et al 2003). While skipped reproduction has also been reported for fishes (Ivanov 1971;Dutil 1986;Oganesyan 1993;Burton et al 1997;Rideout et al 2000;Fredrich et al 2003), it is usually treated more like an anomaly-a mere response to poor feeding conditions. The present study is, to our knowledge, the first one to empirically demonstrate that skipped reproduction may be an integral part of the life history of a commercially important species.…”

Contribution of temperature and nutrient loading to growth rate variation of three cyprinid fishes in a lowland river

“…The relative paucity of relationships in the growth of chub with abiotic variables appeared may be partially explained by their multiple spawning strategies in riverine habitats (Nunn et al 2002;Hladik and Kubecka 2003;Fredrich et al 2003) which have been detected in the River Wensum (Bolland et al 2007). This reproductive trait is selected as it confers advantages through reduced spawning stress, reduced competition for spawning grounds, reduced spawning mortality, increased longevity and elevated fecundity (Mann 1976;Karlsen et al 1995).…”