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Phone: 989-356-5102
Fax: 989-356-4651
Address:
145 Water St, Room 204
Alpena, MI 49707Eurasian Ruffe Surveillance and Monitoring
Project Contact: Anjanette Bowen (Anjanette_Bowen@fws.gov)
Eurasian ruffe
Gymnocephalus cernuusThe Eurasian ruffe, Gymnocephalus cernuus, (ruffe) is a freshwater fish native to Eurasia. It is thought to have been transported and accidentally released into the Great Lakes from the ballast water of ships traveling from Europe. The ruffe was first reported in in western Lake Superior in 1986 at the St. Louis River harbor in Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin. They have since spread within the upper Great Lakes.
Ruffe can spawn multiple times in a year allowing it to become abundant quickly. They are also able to feed in complete darkness. These characteristics may allow ruffe to compete with native fish species for food and habitat resources. Efforts are underway in Lake Huron to monitor its current status, control current populations, measure the effects of this invader on existing fish communities, and to educate anglers in an effort to prevent its spread.
Learning to identify the Eurasian ruffe and knowing where they are found are important steps toward preventing or deterring their spread to new areas.
Surveillance and Monitoring Activities
In 1992, the ruffe was designated an aquatic nuisance species by the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force and a Ruffe Control Committee and Control Program were developed. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service was established as the lead federal agency assigned to assess, monitor, and provide education about the ruffe.
Link to the Ruffe Control Program (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offsite)
Annual surveys of upper Great Lakes shipping ports began in 1992 in an effort to locate any new populations of ruffe. In 1995, ruffe were found in the Thunder Bay River in Alpena, Michigan - a tributary to Lake Huron. At the time it was the only Great Lakes ruffe population known to exist outside of Lake Superior, until 2002 when ruffe were discovered in Lake Michigan near Escanaba, Michigan.
Annual efforts are conducted to detect any new populations of ruffe across the Great Lakes and to monitor existing population characteristics. Bottom trawling is the main form of sampling gear that is used during the survey, however other gear types are used as well. A number of partners contribute to the effort.
Alpena NFWCO prepares an annual report for surveillance activities in Lake Huron and the St. Marys River and catch summaries for Lake Huron and St. Marys River sampling locations are available on-line. A Great Lakes wide annual report summarizing all ruffe surveillance activities across the Great Lakes is prepared by the Ashland NFWCO and available on their web site
View the 2006 surveillance summary for Huron and the St. Marys River (pdf 245 Kb)
View catch summaries for Lake Huron and St. Marys River sampling locations: 2005 | 2006
View the 2006 Great Lakes ruffe surveillance report (pdf 1.22 Mb)
The ruffe is a member of the perch family and resembles perch in body shape. Identifying characteristics are shown on the image below.
Eurasian ruffe distribution in the Great Lakes Basin. Image provided by USGS.Ruffe are present in Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron.
Within Lake Huron ruffe have only been found in the Thunder Bay River and nearshore areas around Alpena, Michigan. Recently the population of ruffe in Thunder Bay has declined and they have not been captured from the area since 2003. The cause for the decline and dissappearance of ruffe in Thunder Bay is unknown.
