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(Ictalurus Punctatus) in Cheat Lake, West Virginia Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2015 Evaluation of Age, Growth and Diet of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in Cheat Lake, West Virginia Corbin D. Hilling Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Hilling, Corbin D., "Evaluation of Age, Growth and Diet of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in Cheat Lake, West Virginia" (2015). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 5806. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/5806 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Evaluation of Age, Growth and Diet of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in Cheat Lake, West Virginia Corbin D. Hilling A thesis submitted to the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources Stuart A. Welsh, Ph.D., Chair George T. Merovich Jr., Ph.D. David I. Wellman, M.S. School of Natural Resources Morgantown, WV 2015 Keywords: Ictalurus punctatus, age, growth, diet, Cheat Lake, West Virginia, hydropower reservoir Copyright 2015 Corbin D. Hilling ABSTRACT Evaluation of Age, Growth and Diet of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in Cheat Lake, West Virginia Corbin D. Hilling This thesis describes population characteristics of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in Cheat Lake, West Virginia in two chapters. The first chapter is comprised of a literature review on the ecology, diet and growth of Channel Catfish, as well as the influence of water level fluctuations on biota. The second chapter examines the age, growth and fall diet of Channel Catfish in Cheat Lake, West Virginia. Acidification has historically impaired Cheat Lake’s fish community, but recent mitigation efforts within the Cheat River watershed have improved water quality and species richness. Presently, Channel Catfish are abundant and attain desirable sizes for anglers. I evaluated the age, growth and fall diet of the population. A sample of 155 Channel Catfish was collected from Cheat Lake from 5 August to 4 December 2014, a subsample of which was aged (n = 148) using lapillus otoliths. Four growth models (von Bertalanffy, logistic, Gompertz and power) were fit to length at age data and compared using an information theoretic approach. Fall diets were collected from 55 fish sampled from 13 October to 4 December 2014. Total lengths of individuals in the sample ranged from 154–721 mm and ages ranged from 2–19 years. The von Bertalanffy growth model was AICc -selected as the best approximating model, and the power and Gompertz models also had considerable support. Diets were numerically dominated by Diptera larvae, specifically Chironomidae and Chaoboridae, while 39% of stomachs contained terrestrial prey items. This study provides baseline data for management of Cheat Lake’s Channel Catfish population. Further, this study fills a knowledge gap in the scientific literature on Channel Catfish, as few studies have examined the population ecology of Channel Catfish in the Central Appalachian region. Acknowledgments I would like to thank my graduate advisor Dr. Stuart Welsh for introducing me to fisheries science as an undergraduate and allowing me to pursue a master’s degree at West Virginia University. I would also like to thank my graduate research committee members Dr. George Merovich and Dave Wellman for their contributions to this project and all the guidance they have provided. I am extremely gracious for the contributions of Dustin Smith to this project. He spent countless hours assisting with field and lab work and was a tremendous asset in completion of my project. My gratitude goes to Dr. Patricia Mazik and Becky Nestor for their administrative support. I would like to thank Joni Aldinger, Eric Miller, Austin Rizzo and Patricia Thompson for assistance with various aspects of my research. I would also like to thank all our technicians whom provided assistance in fish collections. A special thank you goes out to Nate Taylor and Brandon Keplinger for providing invaluable advice and guidance. I would especially like thank my family for their unending support. I would like to thank my parents David and Sadie Hilling for their support and encouragement. To my wife, Lindsey, thank you for all your support and patience during the continuation of my education. I would like the thank West Virginia University Division of Forestry and Natural Resources and USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit for allowing me to use their laboratory and equipment to complete my objectives. I would also like to thank West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and LS Power Development, LLC, for providing financial support. This study was conducted under the auspices of WVU-ACUC protocol #10-040 iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………...…….iii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………….…...iv List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………...v List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………….vi Chapter 1: Literature Review……………………………………………………………………...1 Ictalurus punctatus………………………………………………………………………...1 Channel Catfish Diet………………………………………………………………………4 Growth…………………………………………………………………………………….6 Study Area………………………………………………………………………………...8 Hydropower Restrictions………………………………………………………………….9 Water Level Fluctuations………………………………………………………………...10 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………12 Literature Cited…………………………………………………………………………..13 Chapter 2: Evaluation of Age, Growth and Fall Diets of Channel Catfish in Cheat Lake, West Virginia………………………………………………………………………………………..…25 Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..25 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………26 Study Area……………………………………………………………………………….26 Methods………………………………………………………………………………….27 Fish Collection…………………………………………………………………..27 Specimen Processing…………………………………………………………….29 Analyses………………………………………………………………………….30 Results……………………………………………………………………………………35 Discussion………………………………………………………………………………..39 Management Implications………………………………………………………………..43 Literature Cited…………………………………………………………………………..45 iv List of Tables Table 1. Mean relative weights (Wr) of Cheat Lake Channel Catfish (n = 155). Wr is summarized by Gabelhouse (1984) length categories, where length was measured as total length (TL) in millimeters. Percentile values were determined from Brown et al. (1995) using distributions of Wr by length category. NA indicates an insufficient sample size for calculation……………….54 Table 2. Results of model selection for four candidate growth models for 148 Channel Catfish from Cheat Lake, West Virginia………………………………………………………………....55 Table 3. Parameter estimates from fitting of four candidate models to length at age data from 148 Channel Catfish from Cheat Lake, West Virginia…………………………………………..55 Table 4. Results of model selection for four candidate growth models for 86 female Channel Catfish from Cheat Lake, West Virginia…………………………………………………….…..56 Table 5. Parameter estimates from fitting of four candidate models to length at age data from 86 female Channel Catfish from Cheat Lake, West Virginia……………………………………….56 Table 6. Results of model selection for four candidate growth models for 60 male Channel Catfish from Cheat Lake, West Virginia………………………………………………………...57 Table 7. Parameter estimates from fitting of four candidate models to length at age data from 60 male Channel Catfish from Cheat Lake, West Virginia…………………………………………57 Table 8. Description of Channel Catfish growth from Cheat Lake, West Virginia (n = 148). Mean RGI values and Hubert (1999) percentiles are provided to compare Cheat Lake Channel Catfish growth to populations throughout the species range. …………………………………...58 Table 9. Diet contents of 41 Channel Catfish from Cheat Lake, West Virginia collected from 13 October to 4 December 2014. Food items were quantified by percent frequency of occurrence (Oi), mean percent frequency by number (MNi) and prey-specific abundance (Pi)...…………....59 v List of Figures Figure 1: Cheat Lake, West Virginia with general sampling locations noted………………….60 Figure 2. Length frequency distribution of Cheat Lake, West Virginia Channel Catfish (n = 155) using 25 mm bins………………………………………………………………………………...61 Figure 3. Relationship between total length and weight of Channel Catfish from Cheat Lake, West Virginia (n = 155). A power curve was fit to the data……………………………………..62 Figure 4. Age structure of Channel Catfish (n = 148) from Cheat Lake, West Virginia………..63 Figure 5. Catch curve regression used for estimation of instantaneous mortality. Number of fish collected in each age group (Catch) was natural logarithm-transformed to linearize catch data. Line was fit to ages 3–19...............................................................................................................64 Figure 6. Plot of residuals from catch-curve
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