ys or weeks before spawning and vigorously de- 
aded them against intruders. Such a cavity was 
ways cleaned of silt and debris; in contrast, lifting 
stone which did not harbor a Catonotus male be- 
ath it always released a flurry of small debris. 
le requirement noted for E. flabellare (Winn 
96a:208), that to be used as a nest site a stone 
ist be between 1.5 and 2.5 cm above the substrate, 
is not found for E. squamiceps. 
Aquarium-held males were observed to shake their 
Is repeatedly and vigorously under stones selected 
nest sites, forcing out silt and small gravel and 
larging the cavity. One male was observed to shake 
= posterior half of his body with the soft-dorsal 
against the bottom of the nest stone, apparently 
aning the area to be used for egg deposition. 
In both Ferguson and Big creeks the largest con- 
ntrations of nests were found in the shallow (to 
0 mm) slab pools in the uppermost portions of 
= stream systems, where the stream beds were 
sically 1-3 m wide and the current slight but 
servable. A few nests were found in slab riffles 
Ferguson Creek and in spring runs in Big Creek. 
ep water (over 400 mm) was usually avoided; 
wever, during the prolonged 1973 spring floods 
Squamiceps was found spawning in water as deep 
600 mm. 
Only large males developed the breeding pattern, 
derwent gross enlargement of the testes, and were 
ind guarding nests. These large males probably did 
st or all of the spawning. Young males that had not 
ached a standard length of 40 mm by the end 
the spawning season did not have enlarged testes 
d presumably were not sexually mature. All males 
40 mm or more appeared’ to be sexually mature; 
Fig. 4.—A typical nesting 
site of Etheostoma squamiceps 
photographed in Big Creek on 
22 April 1971. The male was 
guarding his nest beneath a 
slab rock. 
however, there was no evidence that l-year-old males 
actually spawned. 
Reproductive Cycle of the Female 
Generally, the largest E. squamiceps females of 
all age-classes spawned the earliest in the season al- 
though a few l-year-old females as small as 40 mm 
spawned as early as 24 March. A few females as 
small as 35 mm spawned in late April and early May. 
TABLE 2.— Relationship between size, age, and ovary 
weight of Htheostoma squamiceps females and the number 
of mature ova produced. An age of 1 year — 11-13 months, 
2 years — 23-25 months, 3 years — 35-36 months. 
Number 
of Mature 
Standard Adjusted Age ‘Ovary (Orange or 
Length Body Weight in Weight in Translucent) 
inmm inGrams* Years Grams Ova 
32 0.57 il 0.07 54 
35 0.59 i 0.06 44 
37 0.74 1 0.21 80 
40 0.93 1 0.17 40 
41 0.85 2 0.15 56 
42 iu lab 2 0.25 70 
43 1.05 1 0.23 50 
44 1.18 2 0.20 64 
48, . 1.27 2 0.12 28 
48 9 2 0.37 140 
48 1.64 2 0.32 110 
49 ural 2 0.33 132 
51 2.27 2 0.60 91 
51. 2.16 2 0.33 116 
55 2.56 2 0.21 80 
55 2.77 3 0.72 234 
57 3.32 3 0.78 eer 
58 3.22 3 tg a 357 
a Adjusted body weight is the specimen’s weight after the re- 
moval of the ovaries, stomach, intestine, and liver. : 
