James V. Morrow, Jr.

Upstream migration of the Cooper River, South Carolina, population of shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) is severely limited at Pinopolis Dam (river km 77). Shortnose sturgeon congregating and spawning in the tailrace of the dam has been documented but data is lacking on the group's population dynamics. From 1995 through 1999, the population was sampled in the tailrace with 91.4 m long bottom-set gillnets during the spawning season when fish were concentrated in the area. Fish captured during 1996-1998 were tagged for a multiple census mark-recapture population estimate using the...

Seven reaches of the lower Pearl River system were sampled with bottom set gill nets from 1992 through 1995. One hundred fifty-eight Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi) were captured in 3 reaches. Mean fork length (FL) was 734 mm, and weight (W, g) to length (FL, mm) relation was: W = 1.786 x lO^CFL)3204. Mean weight loss during summer was 1.9 g/day. Ninety-two percent of Gulf sturgeon were captured in the West Middle River reach which is comprised of deep holes and little current. Radio telemetry indicated that the West Middle River was an important summer habitat for juveniles...

A total of 139 grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) of unknown ploidy were collected by bowfishing during 1993 and 1994 in Lake Guntersville, Alabama. Ages were determined from sectioned otoliths (lapilli), then age-specific total lengths were back-calculated using scales of known age. Mean back-calculated total lengths of grass carp were 334, 627, 768, 852, 896, 895, 920, 965, and 973 mm at ages 1 through 9, respectively. A length-to-weight relationship was calculated as: weight (g) = 0.00000519 x total length mm3-14, r2 = 0.92. A von Bertalanffy growth equation described growth as: Lt =...