Search USGS⌕ Search
Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 1000944

Lipid concentrations in Lake Michigan fishes: Seasonal, spatial, ontogenetic, and long-term trends

Charles P. Madenjian·Robert F. Elliott·Timothy J. Desorcie·Ralph M. Stedman·Daniel V. O’Connor·Donald V. Rottiers
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Lipid concentrations were measured in seven species of fish from several locations in Lake Michigan during spring, summer, and fall in 1994 to 1995. Adult alewife ( Alosa pseudoharengus ) and age-2 coho salmon ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) exhibited pronounced seasonal changes in lipid content. Adult alewives averaged 7.4% lipid, on a wet weight basis, during spring (May), 2.6% in summer (July), and 12.2% in fall (late September through October). Spring lipid concentration was low in age-2 coho salmon, averaging only 1.9%, then increased to 7.8% during summer and decreased to 4.5% by fall. In contrast, lipid content in adult bloater ( Coregonus hoyi ) was relatively constant with respect to season, ranging between 10.6% and 12.4% during the year. Lipid concentration increased with fish size for all species except rainbow smelt ( Osmerus mordax ). Although deepwater sculpin ( Myoxocephalus thompsoni ) were considerably larger than slimy sculpin ( Cottus cognatus ) (mean total length of 117 mm vs 68 mm), mean lipid content of deepwater sculpin (7.6%) was only slightly higher than that for slimy sculpin (6.6%). Comparison of lipid concentrations from this study with previous studies indicated that lipid concentration in lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) and alewives in Lake Michigan did not change significantly from 1969–1971 to 1994–1995. Lipid concentration in large (about 250 mm total length) adult bloaters near Saugatuck (along the southeastern shore of the lake) decreased from 23.3% in 1980 to 11.9% in 1986, but showed no significant change between 1986 and 1994–1995.

Explore related subjects

Journal of Great Lakes ResearchArticle

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Charles P. Madenjian, Robert F. Elliott, Timothy J. Desorcie, Ralph M. Stedman, Daniel V. O’Connor, Donald V. Rottiers. 2000. Lipid concentrations in Lake Michigan fishes: Seasonal, spatial, ontogenetic, and long-term trends. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0380-1330(00)70706-4

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2026

Thermal habitat use of lake trout in Lake Erie

Understanding the thermal habitat use of fish populations is vital for effective rehabilitation or management, particularly in the face of climate change, given limited thermal tolerances of some species. In Lake Erie, lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) rehabilitation efforts by means of stocking have been ongoing for four decades. However, high water temperatures and lengthening periods of stratification may be hindering reestablishment efforts by contributing to unfavorable conditions for spawning and natural recruitment. We used acoustic telemetry to quantify weekly temperature occupancy of adult lake trout in Lake Erie and evaluated whether temperature occupancy differed relative to fish total length and sex. We found that lake trout occupied water temperatures similar to temperatures occupied by other Great Lakes lake trout populations during summer stratification. During fall, lake trout in Lake Erie occupied warmer temperatures than Lake Huron populations but similar temperatures to Lake Ontario populations. Occupied temperatures decreased with increasing body size during a 7-week period of mid- to late-summer stratification, but not during early summer or fall. Male and female lake trout did not differ in weekly temperature occupancy during any season. These findings reveal similarities with successfully reproducing populations, which suggest that adult temperature occupancy is unlikely to be a major impediment to natural recruitment in Lake Erie.

Lake Erie↗
USGS2026

Documentation of giant floater (Pyganodon grandis) glochidia attached to larval lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) in the Laurentian Great Lakes

Native freshwater mussels (family Unionidae) are in decline globally, including in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Glochidia, the parasitic larvae of unionid mussels, typically attach to sub-adult and adult fishes. Attachment of glochidia to larval fishes is more rare, and a lack of documentation exists on glochidial attachment on fish in the Great Lakes in general. We document the attachment of four glochidia to three larval lake whitefish ( Coregonus clupeaformis ) in shallow waters of Lake Superior, and we genetically identified the glochidia as giant floater ( Pyganodon grandis ). We only observed glochidia at 3% of all sites sampled on ∼0.02% of all fish (∼15,000) collected across lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron. Although glochidial encystment on larval lake whitefish may be rare, it may also be difficult to detect with conventional sampling methods. Regardless, the association could have important implications for the ecology and conservation of both unionids and coregonines in the ever-changing Great Lakes.

Michigan, Ontario, Wisconsin↗
USGS2026

Bayesian hierarchical model of lake whitefish cohort strength from sparse trawl data

Recruitment indices for rare or intermittently recruiting fishes are needed to compare year classes and evaluate recruitment drivers, but sparse trawl data with many zero-catch observations complicate estimation. We used fall bottom trawl data from New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio surveys in Lake Erie's central and eastern basins to estimate annual relative cohort strength of age-0 lake whitefish ( Coregonus clupeaformis ) from 1992 to 2021 and evaluate whether a Bernoulli-Bernoulli presence-absence model retained enough information for an annual relative cohort strength index compared with a Binomial-Poisson count model. We fixed detection probability at 0.31 in the primary analysis and refit both models using alternative fixed values in sensitivity analyses. Among 2879 tows, 173 were positive and 368 fish were collected, with positive catches ranging from 1 to 20 fish. Annual catch per unit area and both models recovered a similar recruitment pattern, with variable recruitment from 1992 to 2005, little to no recruitment from 2006 to 2014, and renewed recruitment in most years from 2015 to 2021. Cohort rank order was stable across fixed detection values (Spearman r s = 0.996 to 1.000), and annual median estimates maintained high agreement with the primary analysis (Pearson r = 0.966 to 1.000). However, Bernoulli-Bernoulli estimates were not one-to-one with Binomial-Poisson estimates, and relative magnitude depended on assumed detection probability. These results indicate that the Bernoulli-Bernoulli simplification is adequate for recovering cohort strength patterns, but the Binomial-Poisson model is more appropriate for distinguishing relative cohort strength among years.

New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania↗