We examined the weight–length relationship of slimy and coastrange
sculpins captured by dip net before (3–5 August), during (14 August),
and after (30 August) the sockeye spawning period in 1993 to determine
if sculpins gain weight in association with the spawning of
salmon. We did not use condition factor indices (see Cone 1986),
rather, within species, we first compared the natural logarithm of the
weight–length relationship over time with analysis of covariance
(ANCOVA) and then adjusted the weight of each fish to the natural
logarithm of mean total length of both species collected (4.238). The
adjustment for each individual was made as follows: lnWT′
i = lnWTi
– (pooled slopes × (lnTLi – 4.238)) where lnWT′
i is the adjusted
weight of the ith fish, lnWTi is the weight of the ith fish, and pooled
slopes is the pooled slope from ANCOVA per each species (2.86 and
3.42 for slimy and coastrange sculpins, respectively). Twelve sculpins
with large internal parasites were excluded from the analyses.