Young fish distribution in backwaters and main‐channel borders of the Kanawha River, West Virginia

Abstract

Fish in the Kanawha River were collected with a 0.5‐m plankton net in main‐channel borders and in open areas of backwaters and with a 1‐m2 enclosed dropbox in shallow backwater habitats. Larval emerald shiners, Notropis atherinoides, were twice as dense, and gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum, 2.5 times as dense in main‐channel borders as in backwaters; larval Lepomis spp. were 20 times as dense in backwaters as in main‐channel borders. Smaller Lepomis larvae used open‐water backwater areas primarily; larger larvae migrated to vegetated backwater habitats later in the summer. Backwaters appear crucial for the maintenance of nest‐building fish species in temperate rivers, just as floodplains are necessary for the maintenance of high species diversity in tropical rivers.