Spawning Habitat Segregation of Sympatric Sockeye and Pink Salmon
- Authors: M. Fukushima and W.W. Smoker
- Pub. no.: RP-98-05
- Year: 1998
- No. pages: 8
- Price: Single copies free
Description
The authors measured habitat overlap, spawner distribution, and microhabitat use for pink and sockeye salmon. Over a three-year period at Lake Creek, Alaska, the time of return for the two species overlapped, sockeyes returned little earlier, and spawning duration was about the same. The two species showed a large degree of spawning habitat segregation (sockeyes preferred middle to upper reaches and pinks lower reaches), but when there were more fish the habitat segregation decreased. Habitat overlap did not appear to trigger competitive interaction between the species. Pink salmon preferred faster currents, shallower depths, and steeper gradients than sockeye salmon. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 127(2):253-260, 1998.
