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A bit of quiet between the migrations: the resting life of the European eel during their freshwater growth phase in a small stream

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Abstract

The movements and habitat use of resident yellow eels were studied in a stream stretch having both natural and minimum flow zones. N = 12 individuals (total length 505–802 mm) were surgically tagged with radio transmitters and released at their capture sites. They were located using manual radio receivers during the daytime from 2 to 5 days/week over periods ranging from 200 to 329 days, for a total of 1,098 positions. Eels showed home ranges ranging from 33 to 341 m (median value, 62 m), displayed strong fidelity to sites and demonstrated a great degree of plasticity in habitat use. Eels were slightly mobile throughout the year, but their movements were season and temperature dependent, with a maximum during the spring (mean water temperature, 12 °C) and a minimum in winter (3 °C). Stones and roots (utilization rate greater than 50 % of eels for more than 30 % of location days) were significantly the most frequently used habitats. Between the two flow zones, the natural flow was the most occupied, with a significantly higher proportion of resident eels (66.7 % of radio-tagged yellow eels) and longer occupation (81 % of location days) than the minimum flow zone with less suitable habitats.

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Acknowledgments

This work was undertaken with the financial support of the projects “Hydroelectricity” financed by the “Stock Wallonia Public Service” (SPW), non-navigable watercourses and “Abundance estimation of wild yellow eels recruited by upstream migration in the Meuse River of Wallonia and implementation of restocking tests using glass eels and elvers” funded by the European Fisheries Fund (FEP N°32-1102-002) and SPW and represented by P. Orban, X. Rollin and F. Fontaine. We greatly appreciate the comments and suggestions made by anonymous reviewers and handling editor  that significantly improved the quality of the manuscript. We acknowledge the Monitoring Network of water level of non-navigable watercourses SETHY and AQUALIM for river flow data. The authors wish to thank Y. Neus and G. Rimbaud for their participations in the fieldwork. This is the AAFISH-RC (Applied and Fundamental Fish Research Center) publication n°6.

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  1. Biology of Behaviour Unit, Laboratory of Fish Demography and Hydroecology, Applied and Fundamental Fish Research Center (AAFISH-RC), University of Liège, 10 Chemin de la Justice, 4500, Tihange, Belgium

    Michaël Ovidio, Aurore L. Seredynski, Jean-Claude Philippart & Billy Nzau Matondo

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  1. Michaël Ovidio
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  2. Aurore L. Seredynski
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  3. Jean-Claude Philippart
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  4. Billy Nzau Matondo
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Correspondence to Michaël Ovidio.

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Handling Editor: Thomas Mehner.

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Ovidio, M., L. Seredynski, A., Philippart, JC. et al. A bit of quiet between the migrations: the resting life of the European eel during their freshwater growth phase in a small stream. Aquat Ecol 47, 291–301 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-013-9444-1

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