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<br />Predation <br /> <br />Thirty four bullheads and three rainbow trout were examined for stomach <br />contents during both spring trips. Ten of the bullhead (TL range 154 to 264 mm) <br />possessed fish remains in their stomach; including two HBC (one HBC measured <br />104 mm; the other was not measured for length), four f1annelmouth suckers, one <br />fathead minnow, one plains killifish, and the remains of several other unidentified <br />fish. The remaining bullheads had either empty stomachs, or had consumed <br />aquatic insects. One rainbow trout (TL = 293 mm) had a 95 mm HBC in its <br />stom.ach. Another rainbow trout had a killifish and a hellgrammite in its stomach. <br /> <br />Parasites <br /> <br />Percent occurrence of the external parasite (Lemaea cyprinacea) on HBC in <br />April was low, with only five fish (0.4% of total HBC captures) observed carrying <br />the parasite, generally carrying only one parasite per infected fish. One <br />f1annelmouth sucker was captured carrying one of the parasites. During May, <br />only 2 HBC were seen with Lemaea (0.08% of total HBC captures), each <br />carrying one parasite per fish. Occurrence of the Asian tapeworm <br />(Bothriocephalus acheilognathl) was not monitored during these trips. <br /> <br />Population Abundance Estimation <br /> <br />The following criteria were used to define the sampled population during the <br />spring mark-recapture effort. During April, 273 unique HBC ~ 150 mm were <br />marked [M]. During May, 352 unique HBC ~ 150 mm were captured [C], and 47 <br />unique HBC ~ 150 mm were recaptured [R]. The smallest HBC recaptured had a <br />total length of 164 mm, and the largest recaptured HBC was 385 mm in TL. We <br />defined our sampled population to include all HBC ~ 150 mm in order to provide <br />an estimate comparable to past efforts, and since there is no indication from past <br />efforts that our gear is not efficient at capturing fish between 150 to 164 mm. <br /> <br />Length frequency distributions of HBC ~ 150 mm suggested that there may <br />have been violations in the assumption for no emigration or immigration <br />occurring. Figure 10 illustrates some discrepancy in the cumulative length <br />frequencies of HBC between marked [M] fish and captured [C] fish. This <br />discrepancy is interpreted as movement of fish, either into or out of the LCR, or <br />both. Using two-tailed Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, the cumulative length <br />distribution of marked [M] HBC was significantly different from captured [C] HBC <br />(n1 = 273, n2 = 352, Z = 2.141, P < 0.001). Similarly, the cumulative length <br />distribution of marked [M] HBC was significantly different from recaptured [R] <br />HBC (n1 = 273, n2 = 47, Z = 1.980, P = 0.001; Figure 10). However, we found no <br />significant difference (X2 = 7.72, df = 5, p = 0.172) in the mark rates of HBC within <br />different length strata (Table 5). The typical conclusion drawn from test results <br />as above is that there was significant size selective sampling during both the <br />marking and recapture events (Bernard and Hansen 1992). However, the more <br />likely interpretation is that there was some movement of spawning sized fish <br />either to or from the LCR between the mark and recapture events. Regardless, <br />since the Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests revealed significant differences in length <br />20 <br />