Data

Fish are often used as bioindicators to test the state of their environment qualitatively or quantitatively. This data set contains details of lake sturgeon (captured in the Genesee and Oswegatchie Rivers for Bioindicator Project GL-00E00825-0, 2012-2013). This study focused on non-lethal comparison of chemicals in age matched release juvenile lake sturgeon in an Area of Concern...

Lake Erie historically supported a large population of Cisco (Coregonus artedi) which provided an important fisheries resource. The Cisco population declined precipitously in the 1920s and by the 1960s the species was considered extirpated from the lake. In May of 2025, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation experimentally released age-1 Cisco into Lake Erie to...

This dataset describes tissue samples derived from Phragmites leaves spanning a developmental gradient from the youngest fully-expanded leaves to senescing leaves, as well as freshly senesced and partially decomposed leaf litter. Sample information includes leaf category, broad and local scale environmental descriptors, the geographic name and location of collection sites, and National...

This data release contains sample information for a project using genotyping-in-thousands by sequencing (GT-seq) to identify to species early life coregonine fishes that were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey from Lake Superior in 2019-2021. Sample data are provided for both the larval and age-1 coregonines that underwent genetic identification and the reference fishes collected...

This data release contains sample information for Coregonus artedi, Coregonus hoyi, Coregonus kiyi, and Coregonus zenithicus collected from Lake Nipigon and the Laurentian Great Lakes that have been genotyped with restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) for population genetic analysis. Sample information includes: the National Center for Biotechnology Institute BioProject...

This data release includes Lake Ontario fish data from the April or spring prey fish bottom trawl survey, conducted by multiple agencies from 1978 through 2025.This survey goal is to quantify the relative abundance and population dynamics of prey or forage fishes, and in particular Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), which inform fisheries managers that decide on Lake Ontario predator fish...

The U.S. Geological Survey-Great Lakes Science Center (USGS-GLSC) began annual bottom trawl surveys of the Lake Huron prey fish community in 1976 to provide prey fish data for the Lake Huron fishery management community. The first full bottom trawl survey covering Michigan waters of Lake Huron was conducted in 1976. An integrated acoustics-midwater trawl survey was started by the USGS...

This data release contains detection and positional data from acoustically tagged fishes used to determine if fish species in the Sandusky River migrate through a location proposed for an invasive species deterrent. Five species—Shorthead Redhorse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum), White Bass (Morone chrysops), Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), Freshwater Drum (Aplodinotus grunniens), and...

This data release contains the methodology and results of research focused on helping refine grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) removal efforts in Lake Erie. This research includes information regarding acoustic telemetry receivers deployed in Lake Erie and its tributaries during the study time frame, temperature data collected from stations previous research has shown grass carp...

This dataset contains hydroacoustic and environmental data collected by a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) in U.S. waters of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan during August 2022. Data were collected to evaluate bias in fisheries hydroacoustic surveys associated with the surface acoustic dead zone (SADZ; 0–5 m depth), where near-surface fish often go undetected, leading to

Bloater (Coregonus hoyi) are an extirpated deepwater fish species in Lake Ontario. Bloater were reintroduced to Lake Ontario starting in 2012 from a donor population in Lake Michigan. Despite annual stocking, Bloater have yet to establish a self-sustaining population and success of stocking has been limited. Acoustic telemetry studies have identified that post-release survival of stocked...

This dataset contains net tow and hydroacoustic data collected in the summer of 2021 in lakes Michigan and Huron to assess the spatial distribution and areal abundance of nighttime pelagic mysids (Mysis diluviana). This dataset also contains long-term secchi depth measurements collected in all five Great Lakes from 1996-2021 as environmental context to test hypotheses driving mysid...