The pattern in the number of sculpins found in individual
sockeye female nests over the spawning season was similar to
that observed in the minnow traps. There were distinctly more
sculpins in the nests of the earliest and latest females to spawn
than there were in the nests of those spawning during the main
part of the spawning period (Fig. 8). In 1992, rough weather
prevented quantification of the sculpins per nest of the earliest
breeding females. However, we observed one of the first females
to spawn on 9 August and noted that her nest contained
more than 100 sculpins. After this date, the number of sculpins
per nest dropped, but at the end of the run, we quantified a
large number (71.3 ± 16.1 (SE), n = 4) of sculpins per nest. In
1993, we purposely concentrated our sampling on the early
part of the spawning run to quantify what we had missed in
1992. The number of sculpins per nest with eggs was 66.1 ±
7.0 (n = 6) over the first 3 days of spawning and then dropped
significantly.