Publications

We describe hatching and the morphological and meristic characteristics of 2.5-5.6 mm long ruffe protolarvae (Gymnocephalus cernuus). Eggs and sperm from St. Louis River ruffe were mixed, producing fertilized eggs that were 0.9-1.2 mm in diameter. Newly hatched protolarvae were 2.5-3.2 mm long. They had 14-15 preanal and 23-24 postanal myomeres, a continuous finfold of even width...

Studies of lotic classification, zonation, and distribution carried out since the turn of the century were reviewed for their use in developing a habitat classification scheme for flowing water in the Great Lakes drainage basin. Seventy papers, dealing mainly with fish but including benthos, were organized into four somewhat distinct groups. A heirarchical scale of habitat measurements...

Eggs of feral lake trout collected in Lake Michigan were reared under laboratory conditions and monitored for egg hatchability, physical abnormalities, and survival of fry. Subsamples of eggs were also analyzed for PCB congeners. A negative correlation was found between egg hatchability and total PCBs but expressing PCB dose as dioxin equivalents did not produce as strong a correlation...

The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) has spread rapidly in temperate fresh waters of North America since its introduction into the Great Lakes in 1985 or 1986. It attaches to hard substrates, forming layers, occluding water intakes, encrusting and killing native mussels, filtering algae in competition with other planktivores, and possibly interfering with fish spawning. It reproduces

Diets and length–weight relationships of Lake Ontario alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) in 1972 differed from those in 1988; the large cladoceran Bythotrephes cederstroemi colonized the lake during the mid-1980's. Micro-crustacean zooplankton were the dominant prey of alewife during April–October in 1972 and 1988. Although Bythotrephes was not found in 1988 net samples, it replaced other...

The spawning cycle of the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is amenable to laboratory manipulations. Techniques are presented that can be used to initiate spawning and rear veligers from fertilized egg to settlement stage. Spawning can be induced in sexually mature mussels by temperature flucuations or by the addition of ripe gametes. Embryonic survival is excellent until the straight...

Seven species of ciscoes (Coregonus, subgenus Leucichthys) were found in the Great Lakes as recently as the early 1950's. Variation within and among species of Great Lakes ciscoes indicates that much of the divergence occurred within lakes. Following postglacial colonization by perhaps two or three species, population differentiation began with homing and reproduction at different...

In this chapter, we discuss methods for conducting bioaccumulation bioassays with fish; the advantages and disadvantages of using fish rather than invertebrates; and problems associated with bioaccumulation testing, with a special emphasis on statistical treatment.

The food preferences of larval lake herring (Coregonus artedi) and bloater (C.hoyi) were compared in a small mesotrophic lake in southeastern Michigan. Diets of the two were increasingly similar as the experiment progressed until, by the end of 6.5 weeks, they were identical; Schoener's Index of diet overlap averaged 0.35 in the first week and reached 0.96 by the end of the study. In the...

Sharp reductions in forage fish populations in Lake Michigan have raised concerns about the continued ability of the forage stocks to support large populations of lake trout and other salmonid predators. There was a need for a more comprehensive and accurate estimate of forage fish abundance and distribution to evaluate these concerns. In response, cooperative diel surveys of the Lake...

The post-glacial coregonine assemblage in the Great Lakes included several species of the genera Prosopium and Coregonus. Overfishing, habitat degradation, and competition with various exotic fish species severely reduced coregonine abundance and altered their distribution by the mid to latter part of the 20th century. Most of the original Coregonus species, some which were endemic to...

A cladistic analysis of 50 characters from 26 taxa of coregonine fishes and two outgroup taxa yields a phylogenetic tree with two major branches, best summarized as two genera - Prosopium and Coregonus. Presence of teeth on the palatine, long maxillae, and long supra-maxillae are primitive, whereas loss of teeth, short or notched maxillae, and short supermaxillae are derived traits. P...