Behavior and Ethology Commons^™

Nest-Building And Spawning Behaviors In Nocomis Effusus (Actinopterygii: Cyprindae), Eugene G. Maurakis, George E. Maurakis

Virginia Journal of Science

Spawning behavior in Nocomis effusus is described from direct observations and review of videotapes made in Yellow Creek (Cumberland River drainage), Tennessee in 2003. Nest construction (i.e., excavating a concavity, forming a platform, and building a mound), and spawning behavior in N. effusus where a single breeding male excavates a pit and spawns with females on the upstream slope of his nest is like that described for Nocomis asper and Nocomis biguttatus. In digging a spawning pit, a male N. effusus reshapes and reorganizes substrate materials that results in spawning areas on the upstream slope of the nest composed …