Table 1. — Sampling efforts l with otter trawls, low nets, small-meshed gill nets, and beach seines in Naknek system and percent 



of samples yielding pygmy whitefish, 1961-68 



' A sampling effort equals one trawl haul, tow net haul, gill net lift, or individual seine haul. 



2 Includes only those gill net sets with mesh sizes 1-inch stretch measure or smaller. 



3 Not including sampling efforts containing unidentified small whitefishes which may have included pygmy whitefish. 



whitefish was 171 specimens taken in an otter trawl 

 in Siskiwit Bay (Eschmeyer and Bailey, 1955). 

 Our largest single collection was 1,701 specimens 

 taken in a beach seine haul on August 14, 1962, 

 in Brooks Lake (table 2). The largest Lake 

 Superior collection had about 80 percent age + 

 fish, while the largest Brooks Lake collection had 

 100 percent age 0+ fish. Our second largest col- 

 lection was made July 10, 1962, by a trawl drag 

 in Brooks Lake that yielded 1,567 age 1+ and 

 age 11+ fish. A beach-seine haul in South Bay on 

 August 4, 1962, yielded 964 specimens (table 2). 

 Of these, 962 were age 1+ and older. All of the 

 1961-63 collections of pygmy whitefish from the 

 Naknek system in which 10 or more specimens 

 were caught in a sampling effort are listed by 

 date, area, gear, depth, and number of specimens 

 in table 2. 



ECOLOGICAL AND SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION 



Pygmy whitefish occupy a wide variety of eco- 

 logical habitats in the Naknek system. They were 

 caught not only in benthic habitats, ranging from 



a depth of 168 m. (in Iliuk Arm and North Arm) 

 to littoral areas less than 1 m. deep, but also in 

 limnetic areas at or near the surface over deep 

 water and in several streams. 



The capture of pygmy whitefish in littoral areas 

 with seines and trawls and in limnetic areas with 

 tow nets was somewhat unexpected. In Lake 

 Superior, Eschmeyer and Bailey (1955) caught 

 pygmy whitefish only in benthic areas below 10 

 fathoms. Except for six specimens caught in gill 

 nets, all Lake Superior pygmy whitefish were 

 caught in otter trawls. 



Most littoral catches of pygmy whitefish in the 

 Naknek system were made at the northeast end of 

 Brooks Lake and in a semiprotected bay in South 

 Bay (areas 1 and 8, fig. 1). Part of this littoral 

 area in Brooks Lake consisted of a shallow sandy 

 shelf 1 to 2 m. deep that extended 300 to 500 m. 

 into the lake. This shelf is subject to heavy wave 

 action and is barren of vegetation except for small 

 patches of Ranunculus sp. Large schools of age 

 0+ pygmy whitefish were observed by biologists 



560 



U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



