LIFE HISTORY OF THE THREESPINE STICKLEBACK Gasterosteus aculeatus 

 Linnaeus IN KARLUK LAKE AND BARE LAKE, KODIAK ISLAND, ALASKA 



By John Greenbank 1 and Philip R. Nelson, Fishery Research Biologists, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



Over a period of many years, investigations 

 have been made by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service at Karluk Lake and Bare Lake on 

 Kodiak Island, Alaska. These have covered, pri- 

 marily, the production of red (sockeye) salmon. 

 They have embraced many biological and limno- 

 logical factors which are related to salmon pro- 

 duction, including the presence in these waters 

 of other fishes whose life histories are interre- 

 lated with that of the red salmon. 



One of these species is the threespine stickle- 

 back, Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, which oc- 

 curs in large numbers in these lakes. As a part 

 of the field studies, stickleback specimens were 

 collected, seine hauls that captured sticklebacks 

 were recorded, stomach samples were analyzed, 

 fish samples for age determination were taken, 

 and numerous observations of habits were made. 



Most of the fieldwork on the sticklebacks was 

 done by Nelson, and crews under his supervision. 

 Greenbank has analyzed and evaluated the data. 

 We present this report as a summary of our 

 knowledge of the stickleback in these waters and 

 its relation to red salmon production, and as a 

 contribution to the life history of the species. 



C. Y. Conkle, Robert F. Raleigh, C. S. Thomp- 

 son, Carl E. Abegglen, and others assisted in the 

 collection of specimens and information. The 

 drawings were made by R- J. Kramer; the pho- 

 tograph for figure 13 was taken by Fred Rabe. 

 Information on the Karluk Lake sticklebacks was 

 furnished by C. E. Walker of the Fisheries Re- 

 search Institute. 



HISTORY AND LITERATURE 



The threespine stickleback is widespread and 

 easily observed and has been studied by many 

 workers through the centuries. A large number 

 of references exist in the published literature. 



1 Present address : State Teachers College. Klrksvllle, Mo. 

 Note : — Approved for publication February 2, 1958. Fishery 

 Bulletin 153. 



Many of these, however, consist of little more 

 than notes regarding such things as nest-building 

 behavior. 



Leiner (1929, 1930, and 1934) has studied the 

 species intensively. Bertin (1925) published a 

 monograph on sticklebacks. Many of his con- 

 clusions have been objected to by later workers, 

 but at least he stimulated research and thought. 



M. J. Heuts has made a thorough study of the 

 threespine stickleback in Western Europe and 

 has published (1947, 1947a, and 1949) important 

 papers on variation, physiology, and genetics. 



Wunder (1928, 1930) published the results of 

 studies and experiments concerning behavior. 

 The reproduction of the stickleback has been de- 

 scribed by Craig-Bennett (1931) and others. 

 Food studies have been made by Markley (1940) 

 and by Hynes (1950). Age and growth of three 

 species of sticklebacks in the British Isles have 

 been worked out by Jones and Hynes (1950). 



In North America, few papers have dealt at 

 length with the life history of the stickleback. 

 Cox (1922) reviewed the various species of 

 sticklebacks of the Hudson Bay region; Myers 

 (1930) made a study of races of the threespine 

 stickleback in California and Lower California; 

 and Yrat (1949) reported on the reproduction of 

 the threespine stickleback in California. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE WATERS 



The southwestern section of Kodiak Island 

 (fig. 1), in which Karluk Lake and Bare Lake 

 lie, is a low plain with numerous mountains 

 rising from it. The coastline is broken by many 

 bays. The drainage pattern is involved. The 

 vegetation is tundralike, composed of grasses, 

 various flowering plants, willows, and alder, with 

 cottonwood and birch trees irregularly distrib- 

 uted along the stream courses. 



The area lies in a temperate climate, with much 

 cloudy weather and a mean annual rainfall of 

 about 50 inches. The air temperature ranges 



537 



