Dataset to accompany the manuscript titled 'Comparison of three in situ egg incubators for salmonid research applications'

This study assessed how three different incubator designs affect embryo recovery, hatch, and survival rates of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) embryos in three outdoor experimental river mesocosms with a factorial experimental design. Factors included incubator type (A, B and C), redd position (three redds per mesocosm, each redd contained one of the incubator types in triplicate), and timing of fish sampling (sampled during hatch, after hatch and 1 month post-hatch).

The three types of incubators were: A, a modified Whitlock-Vibert box; B, a cylindrical “egg tube”; and C, an inverted dome-shaped kitchen strainer on a perforated tray with gravel. Newly-fertilized Chinook salmon eggs were loaded into in situ incubators and buried in gravels of artificial redds in the mesocosms. Each mesocosm was supplied with a continuous flow of water from the Quesnel River.