Miscellaneous Non-game Species
Miscellaneous Non-game Species
Background
The species in this category are native to the Coquille River system. They are the speckled dace, largescale sucker, Pacific lamprey, Western brook lamprey, coastrange sculpin, prickly sculpin, reticulate sculpin, and the threespine stickleback. Little information is known about the abundance of these fish species. Most of these populations of fishes are thought to be in good shape in relation to the habitat that is available to them. In the Coquille River basin, the Columbia River fauna is represented by the largescale sucker and speckled dace. Lampreys, sculpins, and three spine sticklebacks are all secondarily derived from marine fishes and have various opportunities to broaden their distribution by moving from system as sea level changes have occurred over the years. They are generally found in all coastal streams.
Most of these fishes are responsive to changes in habitat and generally are able to utilize available habitat. The freshwater fishes are probably affected by forest and other activities that change water quality while the estuarine species are probably affected by removal of structure or filling of the estuary. Splash damming probably had a major impact on the dace because this fish lives in fast water deep within the gravel structure. These fish species have limited direct food value to humans. However, suckers provide and indirect recreational fishery. Some fishermen actively seek suckers for bait for striped bass fishing. Speckled dace, small suckers, and sculpins are also captured by some fishermen in minnow traps for striped bass bait.
Some of these species may possibly be competitors with salmonid species for food and space in the riverine and estuaring area of the Coquille River basin, but we know of no definitive studies to determine this. At this time we do not believe that competition or predation by any these species is a limiting factor on salmonids in the Coquille River system. The Pacific lamprey is a known predator of salmonids in the ocean phase of its life, but the effect of mortality from this predation cannot be separated from that of other marine predators. Juvenile and adult stages of many of the above fish species are a food source for more economically important species such as fingerling and smolt salmonids, and striped bass. We would like to improve our inventory base for these species. Inventory information is also important for all these species as indicators of the overall health of the habitat conditions. Education institutions and other research groups should be encouraged to study the life history and ecology of these species to better understand factors that limit their populations and provide some basis for assessing their well-being.