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| Thermal Requirements of Westslope Cutthroat Trout |
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Fish trap on Roger’s Lake near Kalispell Montana. This trap is used by the Montana Fish Wildlife and parks to capture and spawn pure strain westslope cutthroat trout and grayling. Fish that cruise the edge of the lake are directed into the trap by the wing net. Once in the trap, fish encounter 3 chambers which are designed to let the fish in but not out. |
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In the last chamber of the trap, fish are concentrated for easy capture. Note the combination of westslope cutthroat trout and grayling in the trap. |
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Once the fish are concentrated, Jim Peterson with FWP selects the westslope cutthroat trout females for spawning. |
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The females are then moved to a spawning basket attached to the fish trap where they can be handled with the least amount of stress. |
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With the fish inside the basket, Beth Bear, MSU graduate student, can get the fish under control (with the help of FWP’s Stewart Kenow). |
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The gravid female is then stripped of her eggs. |
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The entire time the crew is under the supervision of principal investigator Dr. Thomas McMahon (front of boat) from Montana State University. |
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After collecting eggs from multiple westslope cutthroat trout females, they are fertilized with male rainbow trout milt from Ennis, Montana. The “cutbow” hybrids will be used by the researchers to study temperature requirements of the hybrids as compared to requirements of pure westslope cutthroat trout. |
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After fertilization the eggs are rinsed… |
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and sterilized to make the long journey to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bozeman Fish Technology Center where the research can be conducted. |
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At the beginning, middle, and end of the 60 day trial the cutthroat are counted and bulk weighed. These numbers will be used to calculate growth rate and total biomass accumulated. From this the researchers can start to ascertain which temperature is best for the survival of westslope cutthroat trout. |
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The fish are captured and counted… |
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and placed into a bucket… |
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for weighing. |
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After weighing, the fish are returned to their original tank until the next weighing or the end of the experiment. |
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Bozeman Fish Technology Center at the bottom of the photo. Taken from the "M". |
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