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Round
Goby Monitoring
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Photo
courtesy of Chris Young |
The round
goby, Neogobius melanostomus, is a bottom dwelling
fish native to the Black and Caspian Seas of Eurasia.
It can grow to 10 inches in length, but is commonly
less than half this size with a relatively large resembling that of a tadpole. The round goby was presumably
transported to North America in the ballast water of
transoceanic ships and was first discovered here in
1990 near Detroit in Lake St. Clair. Since
then, the round goby has spread to all of the Great
Lakes and has entered the Mississippi River
watershed throughout the Illinois Waterway. Round goby
are now thriving at the expense of some native fishes
in portions of the Great Lakes because of their aggressive
behavior, prolific spawning, and ability to feed voraciously
in total darkness. The delicate ecological balance of
the Great Lakes ecosystem is thus being altered by the
round goby and the Mississippi River ecosystem may be
adversely impacted next.
The 14th
Annual Goby Roundup took place June 15-19, 2009, in
the Illinois Waterway System. Nearly 40 biologists from the USFWS
and nine other federal, state, and local agencies
helped with this 4-day survey to determine range and relative abundance
of round goby in the waterway. Sampling for round goby was widely scattered in the Calumet-Sag
Channel, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Des
Plaines River, and the Illinois River. Sampling gear
consisted of minnow traps set overnight, and angling. Fish tissue samples
were also taken to screen for viral and bacterial fish
pathogens and parasites. Survey
results suggest that the relative abundance of round goby has decreased
in the lower reaches of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship
Canal and in the Des Plaines River in recent years.
The
16th Annual Goby Roundup will take place in June 2011 in the Illinois Waterway System. For more information on
round goby in the Mississippi River basin or how you
(or your organization) might participate in an upcoming "Goby Round-Up", contact Mark
Steingraeber at the La Crosse FWCO. (608) 783-8436.
For More
Information:
Round goby related reports
Round
Goby identification
Round
Goby Q&A
The point
of contact for this project is:
Pam_Thiel@fws.gov
(608) 783-8431
or Mark_Steingraeber@fws.gov
(608) 783-8436
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