Sea lamprey mark type, marking rate, and parasite–host relationships for lake trout and other species in Lake Ontario

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 266-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Lantry ◽  
Jean Adams ◽  
Gavin Christie ◽  
Teodore Schaner ◽  
James Bowlby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Trout ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Sea Lamprey ◽  
Host Relationships

Parasitic Phase of the Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in Lake Ontario

1980 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 2021-2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Christie ◽  
D. P. Kolenosky
Keyword(s):  
Lake Trout ◽  
Prey Size ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Sea Lamprey ◽  
Error Component ◽  
Species Preference ◽  
Fish Weight ◽  
History Of ◽  
Parasitic Phase ◽  
Parasitic Generation

Sea lamprey produced in other areas of Lake Ontario appeared to be responsible for significant levels of predation on target species of the eastern outlet basin. The life history of the lamprey is simple with only one parasitic generation present in the lake during the feeding period. Wound frequencies on gillnetted whitefish were influenced by season, fish size, gillnet set duration, and a large random error component which suggested a contagious distribution. Scar frequencies were influenced by fish age and indicated improved survival of whitefish when fish weight exceeded lamprey weight by 43 times. Lamprey impact on the whitefish stocks would probably have been more important at lower fishing intensities. The lamprey may have been prey limited, and size and species preference were probably such that lake trout and burbot were not buffered against sea lamprey by white suckers or whitefish. The analysis favored the view that lamprey were innocuous in 19th century Lake Ontario by reason of prey size and density, but climatic and other environmental effects could also have been important.Key words: sea lamprey, lake whitefish, Lake Ontario

Assessment of Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) Predation by Recovery of Dead Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) from Lake Ontario, 1982–85

1988 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 1406-1410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger A. Bergstedt ◽  
Clifford P. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Lake Trout ◽  
Stock Assessment ◽  
Petromyzon Marinus ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Sea Lamprey ◽  
Salvelinus Namaycush ◽  
Fish Stock ◽  
Annual Fish ◽  
Dead Fish ◽  
Fish Stock Assessment

During 1982–85, 89 dead fake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) were recovered with bottom trawls in U.S. waters of Lake Ontario: 28 incidentally during four annual fish-stock assessment surveys and 61 during fall surveys for dead fish. During the assessment surveys, no dead lake trout were recovered in April–June, one was recovered in August, and 27 were recovered in October or November, implying that most mortality from causes other than fishing occurred in the fall. The estimated numbers of dead lake trout between the 30- and 100-m depth contours in U.S. waters ranged from 16 000 (0.08 carcass/ha) in 1983 to 94 000 (0.46 carcass/ha) in 1982. Of 76 carcasses fresh enough to enable recognition of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) wounds, 75 bore fresh wounds. Assuming that sea lamprey wounding rates on dead fish were the same as on live ones of the same length range (430–740 mm), the probability of 75 of the 76 dead lake trout bearing sea lamprey wounds was 3.5 × 10−63 if death was independent of sea lamprey attack, thus strongly implicating sea lampreys as the primary cause of death of fish in the sample. The recovery of only one unwounded dead lake trout also suggested that natural mortality from causes other than sea lamprey attacks is negligible.

Survival from Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) Predation by Two Strains of Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 2528-2531 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Swink ◽  
Lee H. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Survival Rate ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Petromyzon Marinus ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Sea Lamprey ◽  
Salvelinus Namaycush ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Environmental Preferences ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Lake Fish

We tested the hypothesis that the better survival of the Seneca Lake strain of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in Lake Ontario resulted from their greater resistance than other stocked strains to sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) predation. No significant difference was found in the survival of Marquette and Seneca Lake strains of Lake trout subjected to single sea lamprey attacks in the laboratory. Of 85 Marquette strain lake trout, 44% died as a direct result of sea lamprey predation, 20% died of undetermined causes, and 36% survived; for 90 lake trout of the Seneca Lake strain, the respective percentages were 39, 21, and 40. The location of sea lamprey attachment on the lake trout was not a factor in mortality, which was significantly higher at water temperatures of 15.6–17.8 °C than at 0.6–15.6 °C. Our study suggested that the seemingly greater survival rate of Seneca Lake fish in Lake Ontario probably resulted from differences in behavior or environmental preferences that decreased their exposure to sea lamprey attacks.

Changes in the Fish Species Composition of the Great Lakes

1974 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 827-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Christie
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Exotic Species ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Sea Lamprey ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Rainbow Smelt ◽  
Fish Species Composition

This paper is an interpretive review of the "case histories" which documented the changes in each of the Laurentian Great Lakes for the 1971 symposium on Salmonid Communities in Oligotrophic Lakes (SCOL). It suggests that lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior passed through a parallel series of stock changes after the invasions of those lakes by the sea lamprey. First, the lake trout and burbot stocks collapsed, and then with the relaxation of predation pressure rainbow smelt, deepwater cisco, and alewife stocks increased. Lake herring stocks collapsed in apparent response to the smelt increase. Whitefish were affected by sea lamprey but recovery after the control of the lamprey in lakes Michigan and Superior suggested that the exotic species had little influence. Lake Ontario differed from the other lakes in that it was inhabited by both sea lamprey and alewife before the turn of the century, and provided the reservoir from which these species expanded to colonize the upper lakes. Alewife apparently equilibrated early, but the evidence was that more recent perturbations allowed the sea lamprey to become a significant factor in the loss of the piscivores of Lake Ontario. Subsequent proliferation of ciscoes and smelt, and collapse of the herring, followed a sequence similar to that of the upper lakes. Lake Erie seemed to be similarly affected by loss of predator stocks, but its predominantly eutrophic character made the situation more complex. Overfishing was indicted in many early stock collapses, in the early invasion of the smelt in lakes Huron and Michigan and in the recent cisco declines of lakes Ontario and Huron. Eutrophication and more direct pollution stresses had mainly inshore impacts, but the similarity in the species sequencing in the oligotrophic Great Lakes suggested that although these factors may have supplemented the other effects, their influence before about 1950 was less than that of overfishing and the invasion of exotic species. Control of sea lamprey, overfishing, and eutrophication seemed attainable in the Great Lakes, but the only defense against further invasions by pest species appeared to be maintenance of sufficiently dense piscivore stocks to assure their suppression. Determining the levels of harvest appropriate to this provision will require intensified research.

scholarly journals The path toward consistent achievement of sea lamprey abundance and lake trout marking targets in Lake Ontario, 2000–2019

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Paul Sullivan ◽  
Brian F. Lantry ◽  
Jessica M. Barber ◽  
Daniel L. Bishop ◽  
Gale A. Bravener ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Trout ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Sea Lamprey

Evidence of successful river spawning by lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in the Lower Niagara River, Lake Ontario

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Gatch ◽  
Dimitry Gorsky ◽  
Zy Biesinger ◽  
Eric Bruestle ◽  
Kelley Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lake Trout ◽  
Lake Ontario ◽  
Salvelinus Namaycush ◽  
Niagara River

Classification of Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) Attack Marks on Great Lakes Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

1980 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 1989-2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Everett Louis King Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Petromyzon Marinus ◽  
Attachment Site ◽  
Sea Lamprey ◽  
Salvelinus Namaycush ◽  
Oral Disc ◽  
Field Assessment ◽  
Sea Lampreys

Criteria for the classification of marks inflicted by sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) into nine categories were developed from laboratory studies in an attempt to refine the classification system used in field assessment work. These criteria were based on characteristics of the attachment site that could be identified under field conditions by unaided visual means and by touching the attachment site. Healing of these marks was somewhat variable and was influenced by the size of lamprey, duration of attachment, severity of the wound at lamprey detachment, season and water temperature, and by other less obvious factors. Even under laboratory conditions staging of some wounds was difficult, especially at low water temperatures. If these criteria are to be used effectively and with precision in the field, close examination of individual fish may be required. If the feeding and density of specific year-classes of sea lampreys are to be accurately assessed on an annual basis, close attention to the wound size (as it reflects the size of the lamprey's oral disc) and character of wounds on fish will be required as well as consideration of the season of the year in which they are observed.Key words: sea lamprey, attack marks, lake trout, Great Lakes

A Synthesis of Knowns, Unknowns, and Policy Recommendations from the Sea Lamprey International Symposium

1980 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 2202-2208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl J. Walters ◽  
George Spangler ◽  
W. J. Christie ◽  
Patrick J. Manion ◽  
James F. Kitchell
Keyword(s):  
International Symposium ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fishery Management ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Sea Lamprey ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Fish Stock ◽  
Total Production ◽  
Pilot Studies

The Sea Lamprey International Symposium (SLIS) has provided a broad spectrum of facts and speculations for consideration in future research and management programs. Many aspects of the laboratory biology and field life history of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) are now well understood. There is little question that it can now be controlled by chemical larvicides, and perhaps in the future by more efficient integrated control programs. There is correlative evidence (wounds, scars, catch curves) that lamprey caused major mortalities in some fish species, and that control in conjunction with stocking has lead to remarkable recoveries of salmonid stocks in the Great Lakes. However, there are great gaps in understanding about just what the lamprey does under field conditions, and it is not yet possible to reject several hypotheses that assign lamprey a minimum or transient role in fish stock changes. Further studies on details of lamprey biology are, in themselves, unlikely to fill the gaps; one alternative is to conduct a large-scale field experiment involving cessation of lamprey control while holding other factors (fishing, stocking) as steady as possible. If it is decided to proceed with management on the assumption that lamprey are important, without the major field experiments to confirm it, then at least the following steps should be taken: (1) the chemical treatment program should be reviewed in detail, with a view to finding treatment schedules that will minimize frequency and dose rates for lampricide applications; (2) pilot studies on alternative control schemes (sterile male, attractants, barriers) should only be funded if they are statistically well designed (several replicate and control streams), and involve quantitative monitoring of lamprey spawning success and subsequent total production of transforming larvae; (3) the lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) stocking program should be maintained at its present level, and should involve diverse genotypes rather than a few hatchery strains; (4) growth in the sport fisheries for lake trout should be curtailed, and commercial fisheries should not yet be permitted; (5) a multispecies harvesting policy should be designed that takes into account the buffering effect of each species on lamprey mortality suffered by others (i.e. should some species not be harvested at all, and viewed instead as buffers for more valuable species?); and (6) a program should be developed for restoring, by culture if necessary, native forage species in case the introduced smelt and alewife should collapse under pressure from fishing and prédation by the growing salmonid community.Key words: sea lamprey, proposed research, fishery management, mathematical models, population dynamics

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