Retention of Anchor and Spaghetti Tags by Paddlefish, Catfishes, and Buffalo Fishes

Abstract Tag retention was measured for paddlefish Polyodon spathula, channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus, blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus, smallmouth buffalo Ictiobus bubalus, and bigmouth buffalo Ictiobus cyprinellus. Fish were captured in 1986 and 1987, triple-tagged with spaghetti tags (Floy FT-4 lock-on), anchor tags (Floy FD-6813), and fin or opercular marks, and released into Energy Lake, Kentucky. After testing for homogeneity, we constructed spaghetti tag retention curves for combined buffalo species and for combined catfish species. Fifty percent of spaghetti tags were lost from buffaloes after 190 d and from catfish after 250 d. Relative tag retention rates after 540 d were higher for anchor than for spaghetti tags on buffalo fish (97 versus 47%) but not different for catfish (74 versus 69%) and paddlefish (97 versus 95%). Spaghetti tags were retained for as long as 4.1 years by channel catfish and 5.2 years by paddlefish. Anchor tags were retained for as long as 3 years by paddlefish, 4.1 year...