Spawning Observations of Clinch Dace: Comparison of Chrosomus Spawning Behavior

Abstract

Clinch Dace (Chrosomus sp. cf. saylori), discovered in 1998, is a species of fine-scaled dace confined to northern tributaries of the Upper Clinch River watershed. Only one previous study has documented spawning behavior of Clinch Dace. On June 4–6, 2014, we observed Clinch Dace exhibiting staging and possibly spawning behavior over a gravel nest constructed by either Campostoma or Semotilus. We recorded five video clips totaling over 1 h of spawning behavior. We quantified various behaviors, including: long duration chases, short duration chases, Clinch Dace chasing other species, other species chasing Clinch Dace, Clinch Dace benthic feeding, other species benthic feeding, and nest construction. Analysis revealed an increase in all recorded behaviors between 4 June and 6 June. We speculate 4 June was territorial prespawn behavior and 6 June represented mid spawn/post spawn behaviors. Comparison of spawning observations of all southern Chrosomus species indicates the Clinch Dace is similar to other Chrosomus species in that they seem to prefer pit style nests and exhibit similar spawning aggregation behavior. However, other Chrosomus species in some cases spawn without hosts and seem to spawn within a more specific temperature range than Clinch Dace.