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    The Ecology of The Clear Lake Hitch (

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    LakeCoNews
    The document summarizes the ecology of the Clear Lake hitch, a native fish species in Clear Lake, California. It describes the hitch's life cycle, including spawning in streams and migrating to Clear Lake to grow. It notes factors affecting the hitch population like introduced species, pollution, habitat loss, and changes in the lake's food web. Specifically, introduced threadfin shad caused a collapse of zooplankton that the hitch relies on as a food source. The hitch population has declined over time due to multiple interacting stressors in both the lake and streams.

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    The Ecology of The Clear Lake Hitch (

    Uploaded by

    LakeCoNews
    2K views27 pages
    The document summarizes the ecology of the Clear Lake hitch, a native fish species in Clear Lake, California. It describes the hitch's life cycle, including spawning in streams and migrating to Clear Lake to grow. It notes factors affecting the hitch population like introduced species, pollution, habitat loss, and changes in the lake's food web. Specifically, introduced threadfin shad caused a collapse of zooplankton that the hitch relies on as a food source. The hitch population has declined over time due to multiple interacting stressors in both the lake and streams.

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    The Ecology of the Clear Lake Hitch (

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    The document summarizes the ecology of the Clear Lake hitch, a native fish species in Clear Lake, California. It describes the hitch's life cycle, including spawning in streams and migrating to Clear Lake to grow. It notes factors affecting the hitch population like introduced species, pollution, habitat loss, and changes in the lake's food web. Specifically, introduced threadfin shad caused a collapse of zooplankton that the hitch relies on as a food source. The hitch population has declined over time due to multiple interacting stressors in both the lake and streams.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    2K views27 pages

    The Ecology of The Clear Lake Hitch (

    Uploaded by

    LakeCoNews
    The document summarizes the ecology of the Clear Lake hitch, a native fish species in Clear Lake, California. It describes the hitch's life cycle, including spawning in streams and migrating to Clear Lake to grow. It notes factors affecting the hitch population like introduced species, pollution, habitat loss, and changes in the lake's food web. Specifically, introduced threadfin shad caused a collapse of zooplankton that the hitch relies on as a food source. The hitch population has declined over time due to multiple interacting stressors in both the lake and streams.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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    of 27

    The Ecology of the Clear Lake Hitch

    (Lavinia exilicauda chi)

    Greg Giusti University of California Cooperative Extension

    Clear Lake, fish and people


    Native fish have long been an important part of peoples lives based on archeological discoveries around Clear Lake.

    Tule perch

    Clear Lake, fish and people


    Ancient relationships continue today. New relationships have developed over time and with new species

    Clear Lake Hitch Then and now

    Native Fishes (1872)


    Pacific lamprey
    Threespine stickleback

    Cyprinidae
    Thicktail chub* Clear lake splittail*
    Sacramento pikeminnow

    Sacramento perch Tule perch Prickly sculpin Rainbow trout


    Sacramento perch

    Sacramento blackfish Clear lake hitch


    Prickly sculpin

    Clear Lakes minnows


    Sacramento pikeminnow (chappaul)

    Thicktail chub

    Clear Lake hitch splittail

    Sacramento blackfish (greaser)

    Introduced fishes
    Brown bullhead (1880) White catfish (1880,1923) Channel catfish (1950) Largemouth bass (1888) Smallmouth bass (1895) Bluegill (1909-10) Black crappie (1915) White crappie (1950s) Common carp (1880) Green sunfish (1941*) Goldfish (1950-63*) Mosquitofish (1925) Golden shiner (1896) Redear sunfish (1973*) Inland silverside (1967) Threadfin shad (1985)
    * When first appeared in the record.

    [FSLMB 1970s]

    1840 1880 1888 1895 1923 1938 1943

    European settlers in Lake County Start of successful fish introductions into Clear Lake

    Key dates

    Largemouth black bass (Micropterus salmoides) are introduced into Clear Lake by the CFC (Micropterus salmoides) 13 native species, 4 introduced species known in Clear Lake 2nd white catfish introduction is successful in Clear Lake Thicktail chub is last seen in Clear Lake Linquist reports large splittail and hitch runs runs

    1949, 54, 57 DDT treatment of Clear Lake 1949 1951 1962 1963 1966 1967 1969 1988 1995 2012 Murphy reports hitch runs decreased (probably splittails) hitch splittails) Murphy reports squawfish almost extinct extinct Hitch and blackfish are reported to be abundant Cook reports methyl parathion applied annually (3-4x/summer) (3Sacramento perch are considered rare Inland silversides introduced into Clear Lake Crappie and bluegill equal 79% of catch in this year Crappie population in decline Barrington writes he believes chub, splittail and trout or extirpated from Clear Lake. 7 native species, 15 introduced species

    Hitch facts
    A member of the Cyprinidae minnow family Adult females tend to be larger than adult males Spawn in creeks, migrate and grow in Clear Lake.

    More Hitch facts


    Spawn in streams in late winter early spring. Females can lay between 9-63K eggs (avg = 36K; dependent on size of female). Females mature either in the 2nd or 3rd year. Males can mature in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd year.

    Early life of hitch


    Eggs hatch in about 7 days (depending on H2O temp) Young begin moving (free swimming) downstream in about 7 days. Seek tule beds near mouths of creek for protection. Remain near or in tules for about 80 days until they reach about 50mm (2 inches). Feed heavily on chironomid larvae (rice flies)

    Hitch larvae

    Chironomid larvae

    First year of life


    At about 2 inches move from tule beds to deeper water. From this point they move out to the lake (limnectic) where food is more abundant. Nothing known about lake behavior or movements. When mature return to spawn in streams. Not known if they return to their natal stream.

    Growth Rate of Clear Lake hitch


    40-50 mm (1.5-2) within 3 months 110-170 mm (4.3-6.6) by the end of their first year 150-300 (5.9-11.8) mm by the end of 2nd year To a max of about 350 mm (13.78)

    Profile of recent hitch spawning runs (2005-2010)


    16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Feb March Month April May

    100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year 2009 2010

    T o ta l # D a y s

    Average # Days

    Average number of days per month when hitch were observed from 2005 to 2010.

    Total number of days of spring hitch run 2005 2010 based on the first and last visual sighting in all creeks. Combined average for all years = 72 days.

    Predation vs. Competition


    Predation.
    Not linear, multiple and complex interactions. Predator/prey interactions change seasonally and over the life cycle of species.

    Competition.
    Re-distributes sources of energy (food) at multiple levels. Creates changes in behavior between competitors.

    Predation is not linear

    Larval Largemouth bass

    Larval Black crappie

    Zooplankton

    Larval Hitch Larval Prickly sculpin

    Energy Flows E = food

    2 Consumer 1 Consumer

    1 Producers

    Inland Silverside Atherinopsidae


    Introduced to Clear Lake in 1967. Feed almost exclusively on zooplankton In one 10m (30) seine netting in Clear Lake (1980) captured 90,000 silversides. Densities have been reported to 500 fish per cubic meter. Highest densities occur in summer (400K 800K/hr passed a fixed point. 1985) Are now the most abundant species in the lake

    Threadfin shad Clupeidae (Herring family)


    Illegally introduced into Clear Lake sometime in the 1980s. Known to have caused Daphnia (zooplankton) collapse in Clear Lake. Populations are cyclic. Numbers can achieve very high densities

    Stress Factors affecting Hitch


    In the lake.
    Competition Predation Pollution Introduced species

    In the creeks.
    Drought H2O diversion Gravel extraction Stream incision Premature stream drying Migration barriers Loss of vegetation

    Threadfin shad

    Possible other stress factors affecting hitch


    Clear Lake has been getting clearer since 1969 obvious changes in phytoplankton (algae) cycles.

    Secchi depth, Clear Lake - Upper Arm, 1969-2010

    1/1/1969 0 1 2 Depth (m) 3 4 5 6 7

    1/1/1973

    1/1/1977

    1/1/1981

    1/1/1985

    1/1/1989

    1/1/1993

    1/1/1997

    1/1/2001

    1/1/2005

    1/1/2009

    Possible other stress factors affecting hitch (Goldman and Wetzel 1963)
    The 1 productivity of CL is almost entirely limited to phytoplankton & bacteria. Because of the high turbidity the littoral development of higher aquatic vegetation is limited along the periphery of the lake in spite of the extensive shallow areas. Increase in benthic (bottom) plant growth impacts on predator/prey interactions.

    Possible other stress factors affecting hitch


    Problematic blue-green algae (cyano-bacteria) is a product of a process. b-g algae= water clarity + temp + wind + circulation + Fe + P + N (atmospheric)

    The Ecology of the Clear Lake hitch=

    sum of multiple parts


    Clear Lake Hitch

    Lake parameters

    Stream parameters Species interactions

    Introduced species Water quality Juvenile habitats

    Water quantity Migration corridors Habitat quality

    Competition Predation

    Questions?

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