Field activity of lake trout during the reproductive period monitored by electromyogram radiotelemetry

Many lake trout Salvelinus namaycush spawn in shallow areas along windswept shores. However, precise determination of time and location of spawning is limited by its nocturnal occurrence, and possibly by some postulated, but unproven, spawning in deep water by certain populations. In White Pine Lake, Ontario, a well-studied experimental lake, lake trout spawn in two shallow locations where some direct observation is possible. Radiotelemetry apparatus was used in 1991 to obtain records of the electromyograms (EMGs) produced by muscle activity in one adult male and one adult female lake trout, captured from the lake before their reproductive period and returned to the lake at the beginning of the spawning period. Both fish survived, though only the male was detected as active over the main spawning site, where it showed evening EMG activity patterns indicating considerable activity. At other times of day, when not located over the spawning site, but present elsewhere in the lake, the male's EMG (i.e. muscle) values were considerably reduced. At the cessation of the spawning period, the transmitter-equipped male's EMG record showed no further pattern indicative of high activity during what had formerly been the daily spawning period. The female was tracked as she moved around the lake, but based on both her location and level of EMG activity, is thought not to have spawned. In 1992, a second male was captured, equipped with a transmitter and released again. This fish failed to show spawning activity but, as with the 1991 female, moved fairly considerable distances in the lake. In one instance, in a swim of short duration (6 min), well away from the spawning grounds, this fish displayed EMG activity levels resembling those of the high activity of spawning. The results obtained appear to demonstrate that EMG telemetry could be used to assess the level of muscular activity occurring in lake trout, especially in relation to reproductive behaviour, and when they cannot be directly observed.