Abstract

The article presents are features of the horizontal and vertical distribution of fish in the water area of the Kondinskaya riverbed depression in the lower reaches of the Irtysh River (Tyumen region, Russia). There have been considered horizons of the water column from the surface to the bottom: surface-pelagic horizon (< 10 m), 1st pelagic horizon (10-20 m), 2nd pelagic horizon (20-30 m), and bottom-pelagic horizon (> 30 m). Hydroacoustic survey was conducted using a software and hardware complex "AsCor" on board a small ship that moved in tacks (zigzags). The recorded information, including the GPS track, processed with special application software "AsCor". Taxonomic belonging to the families was determined remotely - by the type of the reflected sound. According to the data of echometric sensing, main part of fish population on the studied water area was presented by carp species (Cyprinidae) - 66.81%, perch species (Percidae) - 23.77%, cisco species (Coregonidae) - 5.60%, unrecognized species (sturgeon (Acipenseridae)), eelpout species (Lotidae), pike species (Esocidae)) - 3.82% of the registered plurality of fish. All fish groups of the registered mass in terms of abundance have been distributed predominantly in the surface and 1-st pelagic horizons of the water column of the riverbed depression. The difference in the distribution of registered taxonomic fish groups in the vertical aspect from the surface to the bottom is different: in planktivorous fishes more than 190 times, in predatory fishes from 10 to 27 times. A more even distribution of predatory species reduces their aggressive interaction - interspecific and intraspecific competition. There has been revealed a tendency to decrease the percentage of planktivorous species (Cyprinidae) in each succeeding horizon in direction from the surface to the bottom; for Percidae and Coregonidae species and a group of unrecognized fishes it was established, vice versa, in the direction from the bottom to the surface. Due to the wedge-shaped decrease of the living space in the riverbed, the general tendency of a decrease in the number of fish has been registered in the direction of deeper horizons. There has been noted the statistical reliability of differences in the vertical distribution for all registered fish groups. The features of the fish distribution in the predator-prey system on the Irtysh river section with heterogeneous conditions of the aquatic environment (intensive ascending currents and funnels, significant depth changes) characterize it as a "window of antipredation".

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