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Spawning of Lake Whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformis, and Round Whiteftsh, Prosopium cylindraceum, in Aishihik Lake and East Aishihik River, Yukon Territory
Abstract
Spawning grounds used by lake (Coregonus clupeaformis) and round whitefish (Prosopium cylindraceum) were discovered in the course of an investigation on effects of hydroelectric development. The spawning period for lake whitefish extended from early November to at least mid-December 1973. Lake whitefish spawned over silt and Potomogeton in water which had little current and was 2.0–2.5 m deep. Spawning of round whitefish was probably completed in November. Round whitefish spawned during the day. Eggs were apparently broadcast over a variety of substrata ranging from silt and Potamogeton to gravel and boulder. Round whitefish eggs were deposited in both fast and slow current at depths ranging from 0.7 to 2.5 m. Although deposited in a range of habitats, round whitefish eggs seemed to be most abundant on gravel in fast current at depths less than 1 m.
... The largest power generating station is located on Douglas Point in eastern Lake Huron, where it releases large volumes of warmed water back into the lake. Of concern are potentially negative impacts of thermal emissions on the reproduction and development of members of the Coregoninae subfamily (Salmonidae family), which are fall-spawning species that require a narrow range of cold temperatures for successful embryogenesis [43][44][45]. Specifically, lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) comprise one of the most important commercial fisheries within the Great Lakes [46][47][48][49], and round whitefish (Prosopium cylindraceum) may be an important indicator species for environmental monitoring [50]. ...
... Both whitefish species we studied are broadcast spawners that cast their eggs over reefs and rock-cobble substrate in shallow (2-8m depth) near-shore areas in the late fall [68]. Lake whitefish spawn from October to mid December and round whitefish spawn during early November to early December [43,44,47,51,69,70]. Whitefish eggs normally incubate over winter, with optimal development temperatures of 0.5°C and 4.5°C for lake and round whitefish, respectively [71]. ...
... Lake whitefish have been much more intensively studied because of their commercial value (e.g., [48,106,[112][113][114][115][116][117]), but interest in genetic studies of round whitefish has only recently emerged (e.g., [81,118]). Round whitefish are ecologically distinct from lake whitefish [44,51,113,119,120] and little is known about their movements or spawning site fidelity. Similar to lake whitefish, round whitefish did not show any genetic population subdivision over our study area. ...
Thermal pollution from industrial processes can have negative impacts on the spawning and development of cold-water fish. Point sources of thermal effluent may need to be managed to avoid affecting discrete populations. Correspondingly, we examined fine-scale ecological and genetic population structure of two whitefish species (Coregonus clupeaformis and Prosopium cylindraceum) on Lake Huron, Canada, in the immediate vicinity of thermal effluent from nuclear power generation. Niche metrics using δ13C and δ15N stable isotopes showed high levels of overlap (48.6 to 94.5%) in resource use by adult fish captured in areas affected by thermal effluent compared to nearby reference locations. Isotopic niche size, a metric of resource use diversity, was 1.3- to 2.8-fold higher than reference values in some thermally affected areas, indicative of fish mixing. Microsatellite analyses of genetic population structure (Fst, STRUCTURE and DAPC) indicated that fish captured at all locations in the vicinity of the power plant were part of a larger population extending beyond the study area. In concert, ecological and genetic markers do not support the presence of an evolutionarily significant unit in the vicinity of the power plant. Thus, future research should focus on the potential impacts of thermal emissions on development and recruitment.
Significant progress in our knowledge of Beringian biodiversity and in the technologies available for biodiversity research has been made in the several decades since a comprehensive biogeographic synthesis of Beringian freshwater fishes was compiled and published in 1986. Further, the fish fauna of Beringia and, more broadly, of high latitude freshwater systems of the northern hemisphere face some of the most intense well documented effects of global climate change. Here we synthesize current understanding of how the dynamic spatial and ecological landscapes of Pleistocene glaciations have shaped the distribution of taxonomic and genetic diversity in fish faunas of Beringia. Through a more complete integration of knowledge obtained in studies of fishes in Russian drainages, we aimed to identify promising strategies to test alternative biogeographic hypotheses on the roles played by the Bering land bridge, paleorivers and glacial history in intercontinental faunal movement. We focus on freshwater fishes of the Bering Strait region, which live in an environment that is premised on extreme instability and profound changes in long-term connectivity for fishes and offers opportunities to assess long-term evolutionary trends in both speciation and life history variation. Such information is critical for both our scientific understanding of evolutionary processes in fishes and valuable for those tasked with the challenges of management and conservation of natural resources in this expansive, dynamic and remote region. We provide an overview of Beringian freshwater ichthyofauna and examine genetic differentiation among population units within these lineages. We also examine evidence for how long population units have been separated based on historic glacially-related separations and the more recent marine barrier of the Bering Strait that constrains freshwater or diadromous species based on their ability to disperse in salt water. Our review concludes on how Arctic and sub-Arctic fishes may adapt and persist in their dynamic environment considering low genetic diversity, the role of adaptive introgression, and epigenetic variation. We find that Beringian fishes may poorly fit traditional taxonomic categories and the designation of conservation units below the species level may be of great practical application. Furthermore, as hybridization is documented to increase in the Arctic, the use of this process for ecological monitoring may also be of high utility with Beringian fishes.
Rocky reef habitats in lacustrine systems constitute important areas for lithophilic spawning fishes. Interstitial spaces created by the structure of rocky reefs form micro‐environments where incubating embryos and juvenile fishes are potentially protected from predators and physical displacement. However, if interstitial spaces are filled or blocked by sediment or biofouling, the reef structure may lose these benefits. Common practices to restore reef habitat include augmentation of existing reef structures or construction of new reefs; though, these practices can be costly. We explored an alternative approach for reef remediation. In 2018, we developed two benthic sled cleaning devices that used either propulsion or pressurized water jets and were towed behind a small vessel to clean reefs. We used the devices to clean two impaired natural rocky reefs in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron. We indexed effectiveness of cleaning by measured changes in substrate relative hardness pre and post‐cleaning. A biological response to reef cleaning was also measured by egg deposition via fall (Lake Whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis) and spring (Walleye Sander vitreus) lithophilic spawners. We found that our propulsion cleaning device was more effective in increasing substrate relative hardness compared to the water jet device although this was not consistent among all study locations. We also found egg deposition on study plots was variable but in general, egg deposition was highest on study plots that had the greatest increases in relative hardness post‐cleaning. The practicality of cleaning devices is likely related to the magnitude of site‐specific degradation. Our results indicate that the use of these or similar devices can potentially increase the quality of spawning habitat by displacing sediments that had deposited on reef structures.
Lake trout Salvelinus namaycush, lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis and cisco Coregonus artedi are salmonid fishes native to the Laurentian Great Lakes that spawn on rocky substrates in the fall and early winter. After comparing the locations of spawning habitat for these species in the main basin of Lake Huron with surficial substrates and the hypothesized locations of fast-flowing Late Wisconsinan paleo-ice streams, we hypothesize that much of the spawning habitat for these species in Lake Huron is the result of deposition and erosion by paleo-ice streams. This hypothesis may represent a new framework for the identification and protection of spawning habitat for these native species, some of which are currently rare or extirpated in some of the Great Lakes. We further suggest that paleo-ice streams may have been responsible for the creation of native salmonid spawning habitat elsewhere in the Great Lakes and in other glaciated landscapes.
A potential environmental impact of winter navigation on the St. Marys River (Michigan) is reduction in hatching success of fish eggs that incubate during the winter months. Fall or winter spawners that occur in the St. Marys River include whitefishes (subfamily Coregoninae) and the burbot (Lota lota). The lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and ciscoes/lake herring (Coregonus artedii) are the most important species from a commercial or sport-fishing standpoint. The spawning season of coregonines in the St. Marys River along the west shore of Sugar Island and in the West Channel was monitored with graded-mesh gill nets. Of 216 coregonines collected, 208 were ciscoes and 8 lake white fish. Spent fish first appeared in the samples November 7 and essentially all fish collected November 28 had spawned. Pumping was used to collect coregonine eggs and locate spawning grounds. A cisco spawning ground was located at study site I, below the rock cut in the West Neebish Channel; a total of 29 cisco eggs were collected. Six eggs (four lake whitefish and two cisco) were collected at study site A, offshore of Sugar Island about 1.5 miles north of 9 - mile Point. An additional lake whitefish eggs was collected near Shingle Bay, Sugar Island. However extensive searching near Shingle Bay and south of Shingle Bay failed to produce additional eggs; therefore spawning in this area remains unconfirmed.
Life history and ecology of the round whitefish Prosopium cylindraceum (Pallas), of Newfound Lake, Bristol, New Hampshire have been studied. Field studies began the summer of 1959 and continued through December, 1965.Newfound Lake fish attain sexual maturity in their fourth or fifth year of life. Sex ratio is 50:50. Spawning occurs, during the first three weeks of December, on a shallow rocky reef located between Pike's Point and Mayhew Island. Round whitefish average approximately 5,000 eggs (2,000–10,000) per female, correlated with age and size. Fertilized, water-hardened eggs, averaged 3.94 mm in diameter. The peak of hatching occurs during the last week of April, approximately 140 days from the time of fertilization at a water temperature of 36 F.
In Lac la Ronge the lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis (Mitchill)) spawned from late October until the middle of November at ages of 8 years and over. The growing season lasted from late May to early October and young fish grew faster than older ones and tended to have a longer growing season. Ages for 1604 fish taken during 4 years showed that they grew to a fork length of about 16 inches in 10 years, the rate being slower than for lake whitefish in other large lakes in North America. The length-weight relationships were linear: for the open lake, log W = 3.48 log L – 3.93, and for Hunter Bay, log W = 3.26 log L – 3.66. The males matured a little earlier than females and their life span was somewhat shorter. The sex ratio was approximately 1:1.
Squanga Lake in the Canadian headwaters of the Yukon River contains two species of humpback whitefish, characterized by modal first arch gill raker counts of 23 and 28 but with overlap in the range of counts. The species can be separated more sharply by raker counts of the second arch, also with modes of 23 and 28. Seven other morphometric characters not correlated with gill raker count each have significantly different means, but some overlap, between the species.In June the species with high raker count mainly occupies the pelagic zone, while the low count species occupies the bottom layers at all depths. The high count species feeds mainly on plankton, the low count species on bottom organisms. The high count species spawns in inlet and outlet streams in November and December. Gonad development in June suggests that the low count form spawns later, in localities unknown. Samples from early winter spawning runs contained exclusively high count individuals. A few fish, probably hybrids, had raker count corresponding to one species and most other morphological characters corresponding to the other. Tentative names for the species are Coregonus clupeaformis (high gill raker count) and Coregonus pidschian.
Although the whitefish has by no means ranked first from the standpoint of production, it has always been an important commercial species in Lake Erie. Trends in the output of whitefish have differed in the United States and Canadian waters of the lake. The 1893–1946 average annual yield of 1,201,000 pounds in the United States was only 38.3 percent of the 1879–1890 mean of 3,133,000 pounds, whereas in Canada the more recent (1907–1946) average annual take of 1,397,000 pounds has been 5.48 times the 1871–1906 mean of 255,000 pounds. The United States fishery was centered in the western part of Lake Erie (61.5 percent of the production in Michigan and Ohio) before 1921 and in the eastern part (62.6 percent in Pennsylvania and New York) in 1921–1946. The eastern part of Lake Erie (east of Port Burwell) dominated the Canadian production in 1900–1909 (65.4 percent) and in 1922–1946 (57.2 percent) but the western end was the more productive in 1871–1899 (79.8 percent) and 1910–1921 (69.7 percent).
The round whitefish, though rarely abundant, is widely distributed in northern waters. It is one of the least studied of the coregonines; the present report is but the second for Great Lakes waters. Commercial production in Lake Michigan has been tightly confined to the northern portion. The period 1924-30 showed the best production: 200,000 to 359,000 pounds. Since 1956, production has been around 10,000 pounds or less. The present age and growth study is based on 208 fish collected by gill net in December 1951. The relation between total length in inches (L) and the weight in ounces (W) is described by the equation log W = −2.7232 + 3.2940 log L. Age-group III made up 66.3 percent, and age-group IV, 20.6 percent of the sample; age-groups V, VI, and VII combined contributed only 5.9 percent. The average length for all fish in the sample was 14.5 inches. Growth was calculated from a previously published linear body-scale relation with an intercept of 1.1 inches on the axis of fish length. The increments of calculated length declined steadily from a maximum of 4.6 inches the first year to 1.0 inch the eighth. A 3-year-old Lake Michigan fish (12.3 inches) is as long as a 5-year-old Lake Superior fish, and an 8-year-old Lake Michigan fish (18.9 inches) is 0.9 inch longer than the oldest (12 years) from Lake Superior. The smallest mature males and females were in the length intervals 12.0−12.4 inches and 13.0−13.4 inches, respectively. All males over 1.4 inches and all females over 14.9 inches were mature. The youngest mature males were in age-group II; 36 percent of II-group males but none of the females were mature. All fish older than age-group III were mature.
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