Mark Vinson, PhD (Former Employee)

In 2016, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 76 nearshore and 35 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures in 2016 were warmer than average and considerably warmer than observed in 2014 and 2015. In the nearshore zone, a total of 17,449 individuals from 20 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 2.2...

Pygmy Whitefish (Prosopium coulterii) are a small, glacial relict species with a disjunct distribution in North America and Siberia. In 2013 we collected Pygmy Whitefish at 28 stations from throughout Lake Superior. Total length was recorded for all fish and weight and sex were recorded and scales and otoliths were collected from a subsample. We compared the precision of estimated ages...

In 2015, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 76 nearshore and 33 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures in 2015 were colder than average, but warmer than that observed in 2014. In the nearshore zone, a total of 11,882 individuals from 22 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 1.8 kg/ha, which was...

The ability of planktivorous fishes to exert top-down control on Bythotrephes potentially has far-reaching impacts on aquatic food-webs, given previously described effects of Bythotrephes on zooplankton communities. We estimated consumption of Bythotrephes by planktivorous and benthivorous fishes, using bioenergetics and daily ration models at nearshore (18 m), intermediate (46 m), and...

In 2014, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 73 nearshore and 30 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures were the coldest measured for the period of records for the surveys. In the nearshore zone, a total of 15,372 individuals from 28 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 6.9 kg/ha, which was...

We analyzed angling catch records for 341,959 muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) from North America to test for a cyclic lunar influence on the catch. Using periodic regression, we showed that the number caught was strongly related to the 29-day lunar cycle, and the effect was consistent across most fisheries. More muskellunge were caught around the full and new moon than at other times. At...