7622

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7622
• Author: Taft, A. C. and G. Murphy
• Title: Life History of the Sacramento Squawfish ‎(
• USFW Year: 1950
• Copyright Material: NO

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exact spawning behavior has not been observed. A run of 8 to 10-inch ,:
squawfish was seen spawning in a small stream tributary to Upper Blue'
Lake in Lake County on April 16, 1947. Riffle areas only were available,.
All that ,ould he ohserved was that a female and one or more malas were 11
very active at the lower edge of a stone. Later the stone was found to have,.
large numbers of eggs adhering to its lower side, 'i

AGE AND GROWTH '~
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This section is condensed from Taft (1928) ..Taft measureu all speci. f
mens in standard length in millimeters. In order to convert standard ",.
length to fork length, a series of sqna\dish was measnred. These measure. ,:.;.
ments and their regression line are shown in Fi!:'1lre 41. The correlation
(I') between standard Iength and fork length based on this set of data is ii
1.000. The formula for the regression line is: ~
Fork Length (inches) = .4418 standard length (mm.) + 0.12 ~
( inch es ) ,f~
Since it wa..,> not possible to measure the specimens used in Taft'B~
investigation, the conversion must be accepted with some reservations. it:..
In addition it was not possible to measure any specimens longer than,f;.
383 mm. (standard length), Consequently, the conversion of measure.~
~ents of larger fi~h incurs the p~ssible inaccu:-acies inherent in project-I
mg a trend. In thIS case, though, It seems relatively safe. .~
Most of the fish used in this study came from Coyote Creek, a small ,,":'
stream which rises in the Mt. Hamilton range and flows into the southern f-
end of San Francisco Bay. This stream is typical of many in California, .~
in that for six months out of the year it has hardly a measurable flow of.
water. Fish during this period are confined to small, isolated pools, which.
are fed by an underground flow of water. Some of the effects of thisI'
reduced flow on the fish will become apparent in the pages to follow. .~.
Figure 42 shows the mean monthly discharge, in second-feet, of'"
Coyote Creek, near :Madrone, during the year 1921. It will be noticed thatf
the stream flow rises rapidly in Xo\"ember, reaches a peak in Decemberi
and January, and then drops off rapidly ul1til April 1st. From APril"
until July the decrease is more gradual. From July to November the
major portion of the river bed is dry, only isolated pools fed by under.~
ground water remaining. ~
All scale measurements of the smaller fish were made with an eyepiecej!
micrometer and the scaIe measurements will be stated in units, each o.m
'which has a value of .036 mm. The scales of the larger fish from Sacra'
men to were measured from photomicrographs and the length was con
verted into units. Scales for measurement were taken from an area
between the dorsal fin and the lateral line.
Figure 43 shows a growth curve for the first year. The points indI
cated are median lengths, while the dotted lines indicate the extremes 0.
each group. Points 1, 2, 3, and 4 are the median lengths of fish of the 1921
year class, while points 5, 6, and 7 are the median lengths of fish of th
1926 veal' class. This combination of fish of different veal' classes is no.
desir~ble, but it should be noted that there are no. obvious discrepanci,
in the curve between points 4 and 5.

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