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Discovery of an Undocumented Lake Sturgeon Spawning Site in the Headwaters of the Niagara River
- Source :
- Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management. 9:266-273
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Information about spawning fish is important to stock-assessment data needs (i.e., recruitment and fecundity) and management (i.e., habitat connectivity and protection). In Lake Erie, information about Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens early-life history is available for the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair system in the western basin, but fisheries biologists know comparatively little about Lake Sturgeon in the eastern basin. Although researchers have summarized historical spawning areas, no known natural Lake Sturgeon spawning site is described in Lake Erie proper. Researchers documented a remnant population of reproductively mature Lake Sturgeon near the headwaters of the Niagara River in eastern Lake Erie in 2011. Researchers hypothesized that a spawning site was likely in the immediate vicinity of the Niagara River headwaters near Buffalo Harbor, New York; however, its exact location was unknown. We attempted to locate spawning sites near the confluence of the Niagara River using egg traps at three potential spawning sites. We identified Lake Sturgeon eggs at one of these sites using morphological and genetic techniques. Lake Sturgeon eggs collected on one sampling trip began to emerge when placed in preservative, confirming that eggs deposited at this site are fertilized and viable, and that the area supports viable embryos. This discovery fills data gaps in the early-life history for this population, which has domestic and international management implications with respect to proposed recovery targets, stock assessment models, habitat remediation efforts, and status determinations of a protected species in a geographic region designated as an Area of Concern by the International Joint Commission.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
education.field_of_study
Ecology
biology
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Population
04 agricultural and veterinary sciences
Structural basin
biology.organism_classification
01 natural sciences
Natural (archaeology)
Spawning site
Fishery
Geography
Habitat
040102 fisheries
0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
Acipenser
Animal Science and Zoology
Exact location
education
Lake sturgeon
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Nature and Landscape Conservation
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 1944687X
- Volume :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........cbc42e1883d11801b4e9dcdc7329e797