Abstract
Crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) were tagged with enumerated plastic streamers and released in 0.1-ha ponds to observe recapture frequency in stand-up traps. Also, crawfish were marked by a uropod punch, released and recaptured in 0.1-ha ponds for population estimation. Survival of streamer-tagged crawfish in indoor tanks averaged 46.7% after 25 days, indicating that tagging caused stress leading to mortality, especially during molt. Recapture frequencies of tagged crawfish indicated sampling bias which obviated use of the tagging method in population assessments. Short term (3-day) survival of marked crawfish (92%) and retention of the mark after molt indicated potential application in population assessment studies. Population estimates in two ponds were calculated using two methods: mark-recapture data and quadrant sampling. For both methods, crawfish were collected by seining. Population estimates using quadrant sampling averaged 25% lower than those using mark-recapture data. This discrepancy may have been due to escape during seining, which would lead to population under-estimation with quadrant sampling.
Recommended Citation
Meriweather, Frank
(1986)
"Tagging and Marking Crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) in a Population Estimation Study,"
Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 40, Article 16.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol40/iss1/16
