Winter food habits of coastal juvenile steelhead and coho salmon in Pudding Creek, northern California

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine winter food sources, availability, and preferences for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Pudding Creek, California. The majority of research on overwintering strategies of salmonids on the West Coast has been done in cooler, northern climates studying primarily the role of habitat and secondarily, if at all, the role of food availability and diet. Refuge from high flows, high sediment loads, and freezing temperatures can be essential for overwintering fish (Mundie and Traber 1983, Dolloff 1987, Hartman and Brown 1987). However, in California coastal streams where freezing temperatures are rarely reached, climate was milder, and instream cover can be abundant, habitat availability may not play as critical a role as food.

Citation

Pert, Heather Anne. 1993. Winter food habits of coastal juvenile steelhead and coho salmon in Pudding Creek, northern California. M.S. thesis, University of California, Berkeley. 65 p.