Sand seals in coho salmon redds: Do they improve egg survival?
Meyer CB, Sparkman MD, Klatte BA. 2005. Sand seals in coho salmon redds: Do they improve egg survival?. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 25:105-121
This study was conducted in Prairie Creek, located in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (part of Redwood National and State Parks). Excerpts from the Abstract: "We investigated whether sand seals form in the upper egg pocket of salmonid redds and improve egg survival in a sediment-impacted coastal stream in northern California. Sand seals can potentially reduce infiltration of detrimental finer sand and silt into the lower egg pocket. We predicted sand seals would form when the redds were exposed to streamflows high enough to entrain coarse sand and form seals. Using artificial redds of coho salmon, we conducted sediment analyses of the upper and lower egg pockets and found that protective sand seals formed in redds when discharge was two or more times the flow that entrains the median particle size of the streambed. When the coarse sand in the upper egg pocket was incorporated into a two-stage model that predicted survival to hatching and emergence, it greatly improved predictions in years with higher flows in both natural and artificial reddds...."
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Meyer, Carolyn; Sparkman, Michael; Klatte, Bernard
- Units
- REDW
- Keywords
- Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), egg survival, Fish Studies, Prairie Creek, Prairie Creek Bibliography, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, predaceous worms, Redds, salmonid redds, sand seals, sediment-impacted coastal stream, sediment-impacted streams, suspended sediment flux, upper egg pocket