Habitat Use by Arkansas River Shiner and Speckled Chub in the Canadian River, New Mexico-Texas

Timothy H. Bonner, Gene R. Wilde, Richard Jimenez, Jr., and Reynaldo Patino, Department of Range, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-2125

We studied habitat preference of the Arkansas River shiner Notropis girardi and the speckled chub Macrhybopsis aestivalis in the Canadian River, New Mexico-Texas. Arkansas River shiners comprised 35% and speckled chub 22% of fishes collected between Ute Reservoir (New Mexico) and Lake Meredith (Texas). Arkansas River shiners and speckled chubs were collected over a wide range of physicochemical conditions. We collected Arkansas River shiners from waters ranging in conductivity from 0.7 to 14.4 mmhos, temperatures from 0.4 to 31.7°C, dissolved oxygen concentrations from 3.4 to 16.26 mg/l, and turbidities from 4.3 to 10390.0 NTU’s. We used multivariate analysis to determine that out of nine habitat variables, the Arkansas River shiner preferred habitats with moderate turbidities (2750 to 3750 NTUs), with some preferences for current (0.2-0.6 m/s), conductivity (7-9 mmhos), and depth (2-9 cm). We collected speckled chubs from waters ranging in conductivity from 0.7 to 14.0 mmhos, temperature from 0.1 to 31.6°C, dissolved oxygen concentration from 4.6 to 16.3 mg/l, and turbidity from 4.3 to 7750 NTUs. Speckled chubs preferred habitats from 0.4 to 0.6 m/s in current and from 3250 to 5250 NTUs in turbidity.

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Texas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society
Last modified: 03/03/04 04:15:38 PM