In summer and fall 1989, six rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were tracked in Lake Washington with ultrasonic transmitters for a total of 349 h to determine their movements in relation to the distribution of possible prey species. The trout moved primarily in the nearshore area at an average velocity of 12.4 cm/s (~ 0.25–0.3 body lengths/s). Five of the six fish made one more rapid (>1 body lengths/s) excursion across the lake, then continued moving in the nearshore zone. The trout were generally inactive, staying close (<50 m) to shore at night, and became more active near dawn; however, the highest average velocities were at dusk. They spent over 90% of their time in the top 3 m of the water column and 10% in brief (2 min), shallow (mean 6.6 m) dives. Dives occurred most frequently at dawn and during the day (0.8/h), less often near dusk (0.5/h), and seldom at night (0.1/h). The depth distribution and movement patterns suggest that the trout were feeding on Daphnia pulicaria during the day, in both nearshore and offshore areas, supplementing this diet with nearshore fishes such as prickly sculpins (Cottus asper). Predation on pelagic planktivores (longfin smelt, Spirinchus thaleichthyes, and juvenile sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka) was unlikely because the trout were primarily found nearshore and near the surface, whereas the planktivores are primarily offshore and closer to the bottom.
The abundance and biological activity of manganese-oxidizing bacteria and Metallogenium-like morphotypes in Lake Washington, USA
