High Mobility and Flexibility in the Habitat Use of Early Juvenile Pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) Based on a Mark-Recapture Experiment

Disentangling the role of factors responsible for juvenile fish dispersal is essential to understand ecology individual species, setting corresponding conservation status and evaluating potential risk in case invasion. Because their small body size high sensitivity environmental conditions, movements have largely been explained by external such as wind-induced water currents. In this study, early hatched pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) hatchery origin were marked with oxytetracycline hydrochloride, stocked into a bay near dam deep reservoir, then monitored at approximately 10-day intervals using fix-frame trawling 43 51 days after stocking, 2007 2008, respectively. both years, captured throughout study period closed section reservoir. After one month, individuals middle 5 km upstream from stocking site. Four recaptured tributary about 10 site during last sampling 2007. The farthest distance detection followed periods strong wind. During daytime sampling, warm epipelagic layer above thermocline cold bathypelagic below thermocline. later represented community vertically migrating originally thought consist only reservoir-born reservoir-experienced fish. This suggested mobility flexibility 0+ pikeperch, well unexpected behavioral plasticity.