Diet analysis of burbot (Lota lota) from eastern Lake Michigan: 1996–2012

Abstract

Burbot (Lota lota) stomach content was analyzed from eastern Lake Michigan using 835 stomach samples collected from 1996 to 2012. Our results show alteration in the prey community consumed between the early study period (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006) and the more recent period (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012). In the early years, alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus), slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus), and mottled sculpin (C. bairdii) were the most important prey items, with regional variation suggesting greater use of Cottus spp. in the southern lake sites compared to northern sites where alewives were predominant. Non-native round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) replaced Cottus spp. and alewives as the most frequently found prey item in the more recent years in the dataset, and other minor constituents of the prey assemblage nearly disappeared from the stomach samples. Round gobies first appeared in the diet in 1999 and became frequent by 2006, reaching 55.80% (±5.36) in 2012. The dominance of round goby as prey for burbot is important for the transfer of benthic nutrients into the upper food web in Lake Michigan. Our data highlight the striking food web shift linked to the non-native species invasion that has taken place in Lake Michigan since 2000 and emphasize its impact on native predator ecology.

Evaluating quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) in fish using controlled feeding experiments

“…We are confident that QFASA can be a powerful tool for diet estimations for aquatic predators if provided with adequate data on diet specific fatty acid metabolism. Top predators (i.e., salmonines) within Lake Michigan have been reduced to consuming di-and possibly trichotomus diets, making them practical model species for QFASA (Jacobs et al 2010;Roseman et al 2014;Hares et al 2015). As such, feeding trials with species of economic importance (i.e., lake trout) fed diets consisting of prey items captured within the same lake system would provide the groundwork needed to employ QFASA models with wild fishes.…”

Dynamics of the seasonal migration of Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus, Pallas 1814) and implications for the Lake Ontario food web

“…Second, fish may have returned to different areas of the nearshore environment and thus been missed by our repeated observations of the same point samples. Since we did not mark fish individually in any way, this remains a possibility; however, several previous studies using mark-recapture techniques (Lynch & Mensinger, 2012;Marentette et al, 2011;Young et al, 2010) Crane et al, 2015;Hares, Jones, & Leonard, 2015).…”

Monitoring the Milwaukee Harbor breakwater : an Engineering With Nature® (EWN®) demonstration project

“…At the north end of Lake Michigan, burbot are common enough to have a small commercial fishery. There burbot consume large amounts of round gobies (Hensler, Jude, and He 2008;Hares, Jonas, and Leonard 2015).…”