Rocky mountain sculpin swimming activity in a three-chambered flume

Rocky Mountain Sculpins are an imperiled species endemic to a restricted geographic distribution between Montana and Alberta. They occupy rivers with distinct seasonal flow regimes: one is relatively fast (St. Mary), one is relatively slow (Lee Creek), and one is intermediate (N. Milk River). Sculpins from St. Mary and Lee Cr. were endemic; those from N. Milk were likely introduced. We caught fishes from each location, transported them back to the University of Alberta, and acclimated them to holding conditions. We then tested their swimming behaviour in a three-chambered flume (details of the flume can be found in https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-011-9867-2). The flume consisted of upstream and downstream boxes connected by a 1 m swim tunnel. Upstream and downstream place preference was recorded over 24 hours, and flow speed within the flume was increased in 15 cm/s steps over the course of a day. The willingness of the sculpins to move, as well as to travel in the swim tunnel, were..., , # Rocky mountain sculpin swimming activity in a three-chambered flume

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.vhhmgqp5c](10.5061/dryad.vhhmgqp5c)

## Description of the data and file structure

These data will be part of a publication of the same topic. All detail will be provided within.

### Files and variables

#### File: RMS-database\_2025\_-\_Dryad.xlsx

**Description:** Data consists of time spent in the upstream and downstream flume locations, as well as in the 1 m swim tunnel that connects the upstream and downstream locations. Swimming effort in the upstream and downstream boxes would be low to absent, when sedentary. Fish were sampled from three sites in Alberta, Canada: Lee Creek, St. Mary River, and North Milk River.

| **Site** | **Latitude** | **Longitude** |
| :--------------- | :----------- | :------------ |
| Lee Creek | 49.1699222 | -113.3460486 |
| St. Mary River | 49.1766219 | -113.1933305 |
| North Milk River | 49.0935689 | -112.777953 |

##### Vari...,