Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
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Prignon, C., J. C. Micha and A. Gillet (1998). Biological and environmental characteristics of fish passage at the Tailfer Dam on the Meuse River, Belgium. Pages 69-84 in M. Jungwirth, S. Schmutz and S. Weiss, eds. Fish Migration and Fish Bypasses, Fishing News Books, Vienna (Austria).
From 1989 to 1994, we continuously monitored upstream fish passage using a trap at the Tailfer Dam on the Meuse River in Belgium. A total of 157,897 individuals of 23 species (bleak Alburnus alburnus not included) were captured in the fish ladder. The dominant species captured, in order of abundance, were bleak (not counted), roach Rutilus rutilus (87.7%), silver bream Abramis bjoerkna (4.3%) and European chub Leuciscus cephalus (2.0%). Non-rheophilic species accounted for around 93.4% of the total. Most seasonal movements of cyprinid fishes are observed in spring and are reproductive migrations. Roach, Eurasian dace Leuciscus leuciscus, silver bream, nase Chondrostoma nasus, and European chub of indeterminate sex begin migrating in mid-March and continue as long as the water temperature is between 10 and 15 degree C. Movements of mature European chub, bream Abramis brama, and barbel Barbus barbus begin in mid-May, when water temperature reaches 13-15 degree C. Salmonids migrate in May-June and autumn. While seasonal periodicity of migration is clearly associated with water temperature, circadian variations are dependent on luminosity.