Counting fish at night using artificial light: transect survey of common bream Abramis brama and northern pike Esox lucius abundance as an example

Aatu Turunen; Niko Lappalainen; Hannu Huuskonen; Anssi Vainikka

doi:10.1111/jfb.15988

Counting fish at night using artificial light: transect survey of common bream Abramis brama and northern pike Esox lucius abundance as an example

J Fish Biol. 2024 Nov 12. doi: 10.1111/jfb.15988. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Aatu Turunen¹, Niko Lappalainen², Hannu Huuskonen¹, Anssi Vainikka¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland.
² School of Computing, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland.

PMID: 39533663
DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15988

Abstract

Visual transect counting of large-bodied fish using artificial light at night in a shallow littoral zone (<1 m water depth) is introduced as a complementary survey method for fishes such as common bream Abramis brama and northern pike Esox lucius that are under-represented in standard gillnet surveys. The results suggest that transect counting at night and applying necessary corrections for environmental variables could provide a simple and repeatable method to assess the presence and abundance of large-bodied fishes in lakes with satisfactory water clarity.

Keywords: abundance; autumn; littoral zone; water temperature.