Influence of turbidity and fluctuating water levels on the abundance and depth distribution of small, benthic fish in New Zealand alpine lakes

Abstract

Abstract – Minnow trapping was used to determine the distribution and abundance of two small, benthic species of fish, common bullies (Gobiomorphus cotidianus) and koaro (Galaxias brevipinnis), in five oligotrophic lakes varying in both turbidity and the extent of water‐level variation. Koaro were 5–20 times more abundant in the large turbid lakes than in the clear ones, indicating that turbidity may reduce the extent of salmonid predation on koaro. However, the scarcity of koaro in the clear lakes was related mainly to the prevalence of brown trout (Salmo trutta) compared with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) as the former were more piscivorous and had a stronger inverse relationship with koaro. Common bullies were more abundant at sites 20 m or more away from the shoreline, and at depths of 9–12 m irrespective of season, year and turbidity level. However, the overall abundance of bullies was reduced by 70–90% in the turbid lakes. As bullies are relatively insensitive to the direct effects of increased turbidity, indirect effects such as reductions in macrophytes from reduced water clarity or smothering of benthic habitats by settled solids are thought to influence their abundance in the lakes affected by glacial turbidity. There was no relationship between the extent of water‐level fluctuation and the abundance of koaro or common bullies in the lakes, but the depth distribution of bullies was shallowest in the lake with the least water‐level fluctuation and was deepest in the lake with the greatest water‐level fluctuation.