Affordable Access

Publisher Website

Status of Splittail in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary

Authors
Type
Published Article
Journal
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
Publisher
Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
Volume
124
Pages
538–538
Identifiers
DOI: 10.1577/1548-8659(1995)124<0538:SOSITS>2.3.CO;2
Source
Center for Watershed Sciences John Muir Institute of the Environment
License
Unknown

Abstract

Analysis of data from four extensive fish surveys in the Sacramento\^a\texteuro\textquotedblleftSan Joaquin estuary indicated that splittail Pogonichthys macrolepidotus, endemic to the Central Valley of California, declined by 62\% over a 13-year period. Splittails are now found mostly in the estuary, a fraction of their former range. In a gill-net survey in August 1994, 50\% of the splittails taken in the estuary were from the Suisun Bay area, and 50\% were just upstream in shallow, well-vegetated areas. Splittails migrate into freshwater to spawn, and river outflow carries juveniles into productive, shallow, low-salinity areas downstream. The high correlation of abundance of young with river outflow (average r 2, 0.60) and a weak stock\^a\texteuro\textquotedblleftrecruitment relationship (r 2 = 0.22) indicate that spawning success depends on favorable environmental conditions created by high outflows, such as the number of days that lowland areas remain flooded in the spring. A repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated that splittails prefer shallow, low-salinity habitats. The reductions in splittail abundance and range and the movements and habitat preferences of splittail young and adults correspond to trends and habits of two other species characteristic of the estuary, delta smelt Hypomesus transpacificus and longfin smelt Spirinchus thaleichthys. The largest threats to these three species are changes in water management and increases in water diversions that reduce spawning and rearing areas and other low-salinity habitats in Suisun Bay.

Report this publication

Statistics

Seen <100 times