Feeding Ecology and Distribution of an Invasive Apex Predator: Flathead Catfish in Subestuaries of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia

Schmitt, Joseph D.; Emmel, Jason A.; Bunch, Aaron J.; Hilling, Corbin D.; Orth, Donald J.

doi:10.1002/nafm.10279

Cited by 15 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…James River Flathead Catfish are known to consume at-risk Alosa spp. as they migrate to and from their spawning grounds (Schmitt et al 2017(Schmitt et al , 2019a(Schmitt et al , 2019b, posing a threat to Alosa spp. conservation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Burkhead et al (1980) reported Flathead Catfish entered the James River in 1965 when a holding pond was flooded at the Hog Island Wildlife Management Area releasing approximately 50 individuals. The James River now supports a Flathead Catfish population (Schmitt et al 2017(Schmitt et al , 2019a, in addition to an established and dense Blue Catfish population Fabrizio et al 2018;Hilling et al 2018;Schmitt et al 2019b). Flathead Catfish largely inhabit areas upstream of Hopewell, Virginia, whereas the range of Blue Catfish extends further downstream into more saline waters with higher overall densities in the system.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonnative Flathead Catfish populations are particularly concerning because of their piscivorous feeding habits (Jolley and Irwin 2003;Pine et al 2005). Consequently, Flathead Catfish may have a greater impact per capita on native fishes than Blue Catfish (Schmitt et al 2017(Schmitt et al , 2019a(Schmitt et al , 2019b. Further, Flathead Catfish has a wide nonnative range on the Atlantic slope with established populations from Georgia to the Delaware River basin (Brown et al 2005;Kaeser et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…during their spring spawning migrations in the James River. Further, James River Flathead Catfish have been characterized as apex predators based on trophic level estimation (Schmitt et al 2019a). The species has also recently expanded its range into the Pamunkey River, possibly with the help of anglers (Schmitt et al 2019a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, James River Flathead Catfish have been characterized as apex predators based on trophic level estimation (Schmitt et al 2019a). The species has also recently expanded its range into the Pamunkey River, possibly with the help of anglers (Schmitt et al 2019a). The Chesapeake Bay Program Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team Executive Committee created the Invasive Catfish Task Force in 2012 to develop and recommend management options to respond to invasive catfish range expansions in the Chesapeake Bay (Invasive Catfish Task Force 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Growth and Mortality of Invasive Flathead Catfish in the Tidal James River, Virginia

Hilling

Bunch

Emmel³

et al. 2019

Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management

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Invasive species are a major threat to biodiversity of native fishes in North America. In Atlantic coastal rivers of the United States, large catfishes introduced from the Gulf of Mexico drainages have become established and contributed to native species declines. Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris were introduced to the Chesapeake Bay drainage in the 1960s and 1970s in the James and Potomac river systems in the eastern United States. Diet studies have found James River Flathead Catfish function as apex predators and are known to consume at-risk Alosa spp. To limit further range expansion and impacts to native species, resource management agencies need information on population characteristics to support population assessments and management plan development. Thus, we examined temporal trends in growth rates and estimated total instantaneous mortality for tidal James River Flathead Catfish collected by Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries from 1997 to 2015. Parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth model with length-at-age observations pooled across sampling years were estimated as L ' ¼ 1,059 mm, k ¼ 0.231/y, and t 0 ¼ 0.55 y. Flathead Catfish growth differed among sampling years, especially for the years 2007 and 2014, which had the largest sample sizes. However, there were no obvious temporal trends in growth trajectories. James River Flathead Catfish tend to grow much faster than most populations used in development of the relative growth index, but the species is known to grow faster in its nonnative range. Consequently, scientists and managers should use caution when applying growth indices if native and nonnative populations are not expressly considered in development of the index. We estimated total instantaneous mortality as Z ¼ 0.50 and mean natural mortality from six estimators as M ¼ 0.30. A lack of older individuals in the population means that mortality rates may be overestimated as a result of gear selectivity or ongoing maturation of the population. These data provide information to support future work examining the species in the James River and development of population models to evaluate management strategies and management plans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%