Table 7. 



-Length frequencies of -pygmy whitefish age /+ and older collected from various areas in the Naknek system, 



1961-63— Continued 



Other invertebrates found in the diet were pele- 

 cypods, nematodes, and arachnids (table 8). 

 Only pelecypods, which accounted for from 5 to 

 13 percent in samples from North Arm and 

 Brooks and Grosvenor Lakes, were of more than 

 minor importance. 



Peri phy ton (diatoms and other algae), which 

 were present in one Brooks Lake sample and two 

 Brooks River samples, never accounted for more 

 than 4 percent by volume of any sample (table 8). 



Fish eggs occurred in both of the Brooks River 

 samples and in the November South Bay samples, 

 amounting to 3, 14, and 38 percent of the volume of 

 food (table 8). Although the eggs were partially 

 digested in some stomachs and could not be iden- 

 tified, they all appeared to be salmon eggs. Large 

 numbers of adult sockeye salmon spawn in Brooks 

 River during the summer and early fall. Even 

 after spawning is completed in the fall there is 

 a frequent drift of dislodged eggs out of Brooks 



River into South Bay. Kendall (1921) found 

 salmonid eggs in stomachs of pygmy whitefish 

 collected from Lake Aleknagik in August, and 

 Eschmeyer and Bailey (1955) found whitefish 

 eggs in stomachs of pygmy whitefish collected 

 from Lake Superior in January. Eschmeyer and 

 Bailey speculate that fish eggs, when available, 

 may be an important item in the diet of the pygmy 

 whitefish. 



Sand grains accounted for 29 percent of the 

 volume in the Grosvenor Lake sample and repre- 

 sented from 6 to 10 percent of the volume in four 

 additional samples (table 8). Only two samples, 

 both from Brooks Lake and containing principally 

 zooplankton, were entirely devoid of sand grains. 

 Occasionally fish were found with more than 100 

 sand grains in their stomachs. Eschmeyer and 

 Bailey (1955) found sand grains in 9 percent of 

 t lie Lake Superior fish examined. 



568 



U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



