Table 2. — Collections of pygmy whitefish from the Naknek system in which 10 or more specimens were caught per sampling 



effort ' by area, gear, depth, and number of specimens, 1961-63 



Sampling area and 

 date 



Brooks Lake: 



July 17, 1961. 



July 18, 1961. 



July 20, 1961. 



July 21, 1961. 



Aug. 7, 1961.. 



Aug. 8, 1961.. 



Aug. 8, 1961.. 



Aug. 10, 1961. 



Aug. 10, 1961. 



Aug. 11, 1961. 



Aug. 11, 1961. 



Sept. 1, 1961.. 



Sept. 14. 1961 



Sept. 26, 1961. 



June 29, 1962. 



June 29, 1962. 



July 10, 1962. 



July 11, 1962. 



July 22, 1962. 



July 22, 1962. 



July 23, 1962. 



July 26, 1962. 



July 27, 1962. 



Aug. 10, 1962. 



Aug. 10, 1962. 



Aug. 10, 1962. 



Aug. 10, 1962. 



Aug. 14, 1962. 



Sept. 14, 1962 



Nov. 7, 1962.. 



Nov. 8, 1962.. 



Nov. 8, 1962.. 



July 2, 1963.. 



July 8, 1963.. 



July 16, 1963. 



July 22, 1963. 



July 22, 1963. 



July 26, 1963. 



Aug. 7, 1963. 



Aug. 9, 1963. 



Aug. 20, 1963 



Dec. 16, 1963. 

 South Bay: 



July 15, 1962. 



July 22, 1962. 



Num- 

 bered 

 area 2 



Type of gear 



Otter trawl 



....do 



....do 



....do 



....do.. 



....do 



....do 



....do 



....do 



Tow net (3.1 m.). 



....do 



....do 



Otter trawl 



Tow net (3.1 m.). 

 Otter trawl 



— .do.. 



....do... 



....do.... 



....do—. 



....do 



Tow net (1-m.) — 

 Otter trawl 



— .do. 



Seine 



....do 



—do 



— .do.. 



—do— 



Otter trawl 



—do — 



Gill net 



— .do— 



Hand net 



Seine 



do. 



Gill net 



Otter trawl 



Gill net. 



Seine -. 



Gill net 



do. 



do 



Seine.. . 

 do.. 



Sampling area and 

 date 



South Bay— Con. 



July 23, 1962, . , 



July 23, 1962— 



July 23, 1962... 



July 23, 1962... 



July 23, 1962... 



Aug. 4, 1962... 



Aug. 4, 1962... 



Aug. 4, 1962... 



Aug. 4, 1962.-. 



Aug. 4, 1962— 



Aug. 4, 1962— 



Aug. 24, 1962- . 



Sept. 26, 1962.. 



Nov. 9, 1962— 



Nov. 10, 1962- 



Apr. 16, 1963.. 



May30, 1963... 



June 14, 1963.. 



July 11, 1963— 



Oct. 29. 1963... 



Nov. 5, 1963- - 



Dec. 12, 1963.. 

 Brooks River: 



July 27, 1963— 



Aug. 24, 1963.. 



Aug. 24, 1963. . 



Aug. 25, 1963. . 



Aug. 25, 1963.. 

 Iliuk Arm: 



July 9, 1963.... 



July 27, 1963... 

 North Arm: 



July 22, 1962— 



Aug. 9, 1962.- 

 Coville Lake: 



June 7, 1962. .. 



June 7, 1962 . . . 



June 9, 1962 — 



July.12, 1962. - 

 Grosvenor Lake: 



June 30, 1962.. 



Aug. 5, 1962— 



Aug. 19, 1963.. 

 Hammersly Lake: 



Aug. 20, 1962. , 



Num- 

 bered 



Type of gear 



Seine 



.—do.... 



do.... 



do.... 



do... 



do.... 



do.... 



do.... 



do... 



do... 



do... 



do... 



do... 



.do.. 



Gill net. 



do... 



do- 

 Seine 



.do.. 



Gill net. 

 ....do... 

 do- 



Seine 



Otter trawl. 



do„ 



do 



do 



Seine. .. 

 do.. 



Gill net. 

 do- 



Seine... 



do. 



do. 



do. 



do 



Otter trawl. 

 do 



Gill net. 



Depth 



Meters 



3 

 3 

 3 

 3 

 3 

 2 

 2 

 2 

 2 

 2 

 2 

 2 

 2 

 2 



3 

 3 



169 

 169 



2 

 2 

 2 

 2 



2 



8 



7 



20 



Total 

 specimens 

 caught 



Number 



16 

 25 

 16 

 63 

 10 



542 

 16 

 22 



345 

 11 



964 

 96 



148 



124 



116 

 20 

 12 

 12 



144 

 33 

 66 

 81 



468 

 178 

 18 

 200 

 150 



12 



27 



10 

 21 



12 

 10 

 10 



12 



48 

 64 

 96 



1 A sampling effort is an individual trawl haul, tow net haul, beach seine haul, or gill net lift. 



- See figure 1. 



3 Gill net was buoyed so that it was fishing horizontally 3 m. off the bottom in water 78 m. deep. 



skin diving along this shelf during June, July, and 

 August, 1962 and 1963. These fish were routinely 

 caught with seines or hand nets. On July 23, 1962, 

 168 age 0+ pygmy whitefish were caught on the 

 edge of this shelf in a 1-m. tow net (table 2) . This 

 particular catch was made in an area where Arctic 

 Terns (Sterna paradisaea) were feeding on small 

 fishes near the surface, presumably pygmy white- 

 fish. Littoral collections in South Bay were made 

 during April, May, June, July, August, Sep- 

 tember, October, November, and December in 

 either 1962 or 1963 (table 2). Pygmy whitefish 

 apparently remain in the littoral area of this bay 

 throughout most of the year. No sampling was 

 attempted during late winter or early spring. 



In addition to the above areas, substantial num- 

 bers of pygmy whitefish were also caught in lit- 

 toral areas in the narrows between South Bay and 

 Iliuk Ann, at the upper end of Uiuk Arm, and 



near the outlets of Grosvenor and Coville Lakes 

 (areas 9, 11, 12, and 14, fig. 1) . 



Pygmy whitefish in the Naknek system appar- 

 ently are associated with the benthic zone at all 

 lake depths. Benthic collections have been made 

 from all depths in Brooks Lake with seines, trawls, 

 or gill nets and from shallow shoreline and the 

 deepest areas of North Arm and Iliuk Arm with 

 seines and gill nets. This distribution differs from 

 the bathybenthic distribution found in Lake Supe- 

 rior (Eschmeyer and Bailey, 1955) and the inter- 

 mediate benthic distribution found in four British 

 Columbia lakes (McCart, 1963). In each of these 

 studies, pygmy whitefish were sampled primarily 

 with one collecting gear — trawls in Lake Superior 

 and gill nets in British Columbia. 



Although pygmy whitefish are generally asso- 

 ciated with the benthic zone, concentrations of 

 them were typically spotty. A series of 11 conse- 



PYGMY WHITEFISH OF SOUTHWEST ALASKA 



561 



