Occurrence of the Great Lake's most recent invader, Hemimysis anomala, in the diet of fishes in southeastern Lake Ontario

Journal of Great Lakes Research
By: , and 

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Abstract

The Ponto-Caspian mysid, Hemimysis anomala, was first observed in southeastern Lake Ontario in May 2006. During July and August 2007, gill nets were fished in 6 to 8 m of water at two locations of known Hemimysis colonization in southeastern Lake Ontario to determine if fish that consume macroinvertebrates were beginning to include this new invasive mysid in their diets. Of nine fish species captured in August, September, and October 2007, three species had consumed Hemimysis: alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), and yellow perch (Perca flavescens); and six species had not: round goby Apollonia melanostoma, smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu, spottail shiner Notropis hudsonius, gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum, white perch Morone americana and log perch Percina caprodes. Diets of alewives from all samples were composed predominantly of Hemimysis (69.6% -100% frequency of occurrence, 46.0%–74.5% dry weight diet composition). Two of 6 rock bass stomachs sampled in August contained ≥ 98.9% Hemimysis (10 and 40 individuals each) and one of 61 yellow perch stomachs sampled in September contained 10.0% Hemimysis (6 individuals) and 90.0% fish. While Hemimysis were observed only sparsely in the diet of most nearshore fish, their predominance in alewife diets and their omnivorous feeding behavior indicated that they have the potential to alter energy flow in Great Lakes' foodwebs.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Occurrence of the Great Lake's most recent invader, Hemimysis anomala, in the diet of fishes in southeastern Lake Ontario
Series title Journal of Great Lakes Research
DOI 10.1016/j.jglr.2009.12.002
Volume 36
Issue 1
Year Published 2010
Language English
Publisher Elsevier
Publisher location Amsterdam, Netherlands
Contributing office(s) Lake Ontario Biological Station
Description 5 p.
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Journal of Great Lakes Research
First page 179
Last page 183
Other Geospatial Lake Ontario
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