Document Type
Article
DOI
10.25778/1mzt-9g77
Abstract
Spawning behavior in Nocomis effusus is described from direct observations and review of videotapes made in Yellow Creek (Cumberland River drainage), Tennessee in 2003. Nest construction (i.e., excavating a concavity, forming a platform, and building a mound), and spawning behavior in N. effusus where a single breeding male excavates a pit and spawns with females on the upstream slope of his nest is like that described for Nocomis asper and Nocomis biguttatus. In digging a spawning pit, a male N. effusus reshapes and reorganizes substrate materials that results in spawning areas on the upstream slope of the nest composed of 6.0 and 11.3 mm size-class pebbles. Aggressive behaviors (in order of increasing aggression) observed between nest-building and intruder male N. effusus were non-contact head displacement, non-contact body displacement, chase, circle swim, and head/body butt. Nest associates (i.e., species that congregate and may spawn in a nest but do not contribute to its construction) observed over nests of N. effusus were Luxilus chrysocephalus and Lythrurus fasciolaris.
Recommended Citation
Maurakis, Eugene G. and Maurakis, George E.
(2004)
"Nest-Building and Spawning Behaviors in Nocomis effusus (Actinopterygii: Cyprindae),"
Virginia Journal of Science: Vol. 55:
No.
3, Article 2.
DOI: 10.25778/1mzt-9g77
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/vjs/vol55/iss3/2