Abstract
The winter ecology of stream fishes is still poorly understood, especially in non-salmonid species. A small tributary (<4 m in width, <1 km in length) of the Otofuke River (central Hokkaido, northern Japan) dewatered in the summer of 2013, which allowed us to evaluate immigration after the summer draught. More than 10000 juveniles of Siberian stone loach Barbatula toni, Japanese dace Tribolodon spp., and non-native rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss immigrated to the tributary in the four months following the summer dewatering. This suggests that even remnant tributaries may be critical wintering habitats for some juvenile fishes.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge valuable comments from anonymous reviewers on earlier versions of the manuscript. This study was partly supported by the research fund provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.
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Koizumi, I., Tanaka, Y. & Kanazawa, Y. Mass immigration of juvenile fishes into a small, once-dried tributary demonstrates the importance of remnant tributaries as wintering habitats. Ichthyol Res 64, 353–356 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-016-0564-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-016-0564-1