Whats This???

SK60 · Senior Member

Whats This???

Cole Davis · Senior Member

Steve I would say the one on the left is a prehistoric cased caddis shell, back when they were a foot long.

Emerger · Senior Member

I'm guessing that pic 1 is otter scat.

lightfoot · Senior Member

Lots of pic 1 on top of the rocks. And I don't see any fish bones in there despite what people swear by.

Acorn caps?

GSSFLYFISHER · Newbie

Looks like a casting from an Owl to me,

Rossflyguy · Senior Member

those are crayfish in pic 1

Blue Wing · Member

pic#1 - regurgitated rodent from an owl?

#2 - calciated fish vertebrae?

-- Edited by Blue Wing on Friday 3rd of February 2012 07:10:00 AM

Matt R · Senior Member

Here's my guesses
Pic #1 the enemies scat(otters) made of our little fish and crayfish or crawdads.
Pic #2 im guessing are calcium deposits from the bones of the crawdads, i see them next to the scat on the rocks.

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

Hey Emerger, I really dont think thats otters scat, I believe he uses the out houses near access #3, plus he doesnt eat crayfish, only cheese burgers. biggrin

Emerger · Senior Member

hahah... and washes them down with bud light!

Packrat · Senior Member

Crayfish from a trouts stomach contents.

Calcium left over from digested crayfish passed though fish.

Otter · Senior Member

I can tell you that one of the reasons that I picked a code name otter is that during the summer I fish the same way as the river otters. I used to watch where the otters would dive. There are certain sections of the creek where fish stack up. These areas change every summer, if you watch the otters they can point you in the right areas. I have seen otters with fish in their mouths. They have grown in numbers and I can tell you that they do not like to share the creek!

SK60 · Senior Member

Good guesses/work guys. #One is a picture of scat, most likely Chris's (oops, I mean river otter). Could be raccoon, but not likely heron or egret. Its 100% chewed up crayfish carapace (skin, exoskeleton of chitin), including a strip of antenna, the meat has been digested away. The skin is basically indigestible, so passes through in the stool. Its likely that crayfish help the monster trout grow to that size (along with the sculpins, sticklebacks, and juvenile trout).

#Two are 4 gastroliths from moulting crayfish. To increase in size crayfish molt. To do that, they soften the hard chitinous exoskeleton by digesting most of the chitin, which is held together and strenthened by calcium and they then store the calcium as insoluble salt in a pair of gastrolith organs on either side of their abdomen. While growing in the soft shell they are easier prey. They eventualy reform the hard chitin skin by producing more chitin and reabsorb the calcium from the organs to strengthen it.

I found these gastroliths mixed in with the scat of #1. There were at least 6, so the otter had eaten at least 3 CF at about the same time.

Ralph Cutter used beds of gastroliths on the Truckee River bottom found by snorkeling to tell where large browns were holding and would confirm it by catching the fish later.

-- Edited by SK60 on Saturday 4th of February 2012 08:32:05 AM

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

That stuff is for sure(I think) otter poop, I see comparible stuff on the rocks all over the creek. I have noticed that since the numbers of fish in the creek have dwindled so have the numbers of otters that I see. Maybe a direct result of less food so why stay around?

Berryessie · Senior Member

Does anyone here know when those crayfish triggers them to molt? I have heard many different things when I have asked this question before. Someone told me that it is around the full moon, but I have also heard that it is completely random. I red that they will do this several times in a year but it wold be handy to know the real answer.

rgloft · Senior Member

Matt R wrote:
Here's my guesses
Pic #1 the enemies scat(otters) made of our little fish and crayfish or crawdads.
Pic #2 im guessing are calcium deposits from the bones of the crawdads, i see them next to the scat on the rocks.

and we have a winner !

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

I have raised many crawdads from about 3/4 of an inch long and have seen many a molt, it seems that its based on how much they eat, which kinda makes sense but I could be wrong.