Mary G. Henry Jacqueline F. Savino 1991 Predation and contaminants are two possible factors in the poor recruitment of young lake charr <i>Salvelinus namaycush</i> in the Great Lakes. We measured the feeding rate of slimy sculpins Cottus cognatus and burbot Lota lota on young lake charr (uncontaminated young from eggs of a hatchery brood stock and contaminated young from eggs of Lake Michigan lake charr) in laboratory test chambers with a cobble substrate. The median daily consumption rate of sculpins for all tests was 2 lake charr eggs (N = 22 tests; 95% confidence interval, O-13) and 2 lake charr free embryos (N = 31 tests; 95% confidence interval, O-10). Feeding rate did not differ between hatchery and contaminated prey. Slimy sculpins continued to feed on lake charr when another prey organism, the deepwater amphipod <i>Pontoporeia hoyi</i>, was present. Feeding by burbot on free embryos (4-36 d^-l) increased as the mobility of young increased, but burbot consumed about 10% of their body weight weekly in free-swimming young (140-380 d^-l). Predation on lake charr eggs by sculpins could beconsiderable over the 100 to 140 d incubation period, and burbot could eat large numbers of free-swimming lake charr as the young fish left the reef. Predation pressure on young lake charr may inhibit rehabilitation ofself-sustaining populations of lake charr on some reefs unless a critical egg density has been reached. application/pdf 10.1007/BF00000692 en Springer Feeding rate of slimy sculpin and burbot on young lake charr in laboratory reefs article