RETENTION, RECOGNITION, AND EFFECTS ON SURVIVAL OF SEVERAL TAGS AND MARKS FOR WRITE STURGEON

We evaluated retention and effects on survival of tags and marks appli ed to 7,332 white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Columbia R iver between 1987 and 1991. White sturgeon were tagged and marked with combinations of spaghetti tags, Carlin tags, tattoos, barbel clips, l eading pectoral fin-ray scars, and lateral scute removals. Spaghetti t ag placements below the anterior and posterior portions of the dorsal fin had 96% and 88% retention during the first year at large. Removal of a combination of dorsal scutes provided a mark that lasts more than two years, whereas tattoos and fin-ray scars did not last as long. Ba rbel clips did not regenerate, but were subject to some misinterpretat ion and may have reduced survival rates. We recommend evaluating effec ts of scute removal on survival, and propose reserving removal of the second right lateral scute to indicate oxytetracycline injection and t he second left lateral scute to indicate passive integrated transponde r (PIT) tagging for white sturgeon studies in the Columbia River Basin .