Wednesday March 27, 2013
What more fitting place to catch a Sacramento pikeminnow than on the Sacramento River, a short swim from the Sacramento Airport. We scooped up this massive native minnow (Ptychocheilus grandis) during an electrofishing survey as part of our project to monitor repaired levee sites on the Sacramento River. We’re especially interested in the abundance of this ravenous fish because it predates heavily on juvenile salmonids (see Survival of the biggest). Although hefty, this particular specimen is far from record breaking: Sacramento pikeminnow can grow to more than 1 m (3.3 feet) in length. We’ve seen a few other mega-sized pikeminnows in our day – with mouths to match (see Hotlips).