Preferred temperatures of juvenile lake whitefish

Journal of Great Lakes Research
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Abstract

Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) supported valuable commercial fisheries in all of the Great Lakes until the 1950s to 1960s when their populations collapsed due to overfishing, pollution, and predation by the exotic sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). Reduction of these population stresses has permitted significant recovery of the lake whitefish in the upper three Great Lakes since the 1980s, and limited but encouraging recovery is now apparent in Lakes Erie and Ontario. In the present study the thermal preferences of age-0 and age-1 lake whitefish were measured in the laboratory to provide a basis for determining thermal habitat use by juvenile lake whitefish and thermal niche overlap with exotic fishes that might prey on them. Final thermal preferenda of young lake whitefish varied inversely with fish size ranging from 16.8°C for fish averaging 1.9 g to 15.6°C for age-1 fish averaging 3.9 g. Final thermal preferenda were in agreement with the limited published information on temperature selection of juvenile lake whitefish in the laboratory and on thermal habitat use by wild, free-ranging populations in the Great Lakes.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Preferred temperatures of juvenile lake whitefish
Series title Journal of Great Lakes Research
DOI 10.1016/S0380-1330(99)70761-6
Volume 25
Issue 3
Year Published 1999
Language English
Publisher Elsevier
Contributing office(s) Great Lakes Science Center
Description 6 p.
First page 583
Last page 588
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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