RED SALMON OK BliOOKS AND KARLUK LAKES 



55 



44 



T • • • • r 



50 60 



SNOUT- FORK LENGTH IN CENTIMETERS 



Figure 3. — ReLition of snout-fork length to mideye-foi-k length for 193 female red salmon sampled in the Karluk 



River, 1952. 



ali.s) is curvilineiir. Rounsefell (1957) states that 

 over the narrower raiifres of lenortli at maturity 

 found in Oneorhynchus sp., the straio;ht-line equa- 

 tion adequately describes tlie relationship. This 

 view was held earlier for red sahnon Ijy Foerster 

 and Prit chard (1041). Tiiey believed that the 

 overall relation between lish length and nunilicr 

 of eirjrs was prol)ably loii'arithinic, but since adult 

 s])awnin<); red salmon "renerally fall witltin a lim- 

 ited size rano'e, the st rai^ilit-line equation was 

 adequate. 



Total egg counts for females examined at Br<M)ks 

 and Karluk Lakes are plotted against mideye-foik 

 length in figure 2. lyiuear regression equations 

 were derived for these sets of data l)y the mi'thod 

 of least squares. 



Since fecundity studies at Karluk Lake have 

 involved various length meastirements, lengths in 

 tliis paper represent tiansfonnations to mideye- 

 fork lengths from data given in figure 3. The 

 mideye-fork length is measured along the side of 

 the fisli from the center of the eye socket to the 

 fork in the tail. This length was fii"St used in 

 Alaska by the Fisheries Research Institute of tlie 

 University of Wasliington. It avoids the varia- 

 l)ility in total lengths associated with changes in 

 the appearance of the skidl during developineiU of 

 secondary sexual cliaracterisi ics among most 

 si)a\vning salmonids. 



The earliest recorded study of fecundity at 

 Karlidv L:ike was conducted by Chamberlain 

 (1907) who obtaineil a mean egg count of 3,500 



