Swimming responses of larval and juvenile freshwater fishes to nearshore and offshore water sources

Abstract

Dispersal of young fish through wind‐driven currents has a growing research focus in large freshwater lakes; however, the influence of behaviour on such dispersal has not been tested. Fish may orient to different environmental cues and use swimming behaviours to navigate towards or retain their position within important habitats. To examine the ability of larval and juvenile fishes of the Laurentian Great Lakes to perceive and orient to nearshore or offshore habitats, we carried out a series of behavioural trials in a flume in which fish choose between different combinations of nearshore and offshore water, and well water. Water and a natural assemblage of larval and juvenile nearshore fish (Dominant species: white sucker, Catostomus commersonii, and spottail shiners, Notropis hudonius) used in the experiment were collected from northern Lake Michigan near Beaver Island. Results of our study suggest that young fish are capable of distinguishing and responding to different water sources, indicating a potential to orient within their environment, such as through the use of olfactory cues. We did not see a difference in fish response to changing concentrations of water cues, possibly suggesting that the threshold for fish response occurs at lower concentrations than were tested in our experiments. This preliminary study into orientation of Great Lakes fishes demonstrates the capacity of these fish to orient to cues in water sources and indicates the need to consider active movement in future studies of larval dispersal and habitat choice in the large freshwater lakes.

Morphological variations of an invasive cyprinid fish (Carassius gibelio) in lentic and lotic environments inferred from the body, otolith, and scale shapes

“…In contrast, C. gibelio from the dams revealed considerably high shape variations, particularly in the body depth and snout length, suggesting a greater magnitude of environmental heterogeneity (biotic and/or abiotic) among dams. There is considerable evidence that the intra‐population morphological (phenotypic) variation can increase with increasing environmental heterogeneity, and thus, the population experiencing higher environmental heterogeneity often exhibits more elevated levels of morphological (phenotypic) variation (Griffiths et al, 2000; Lázaro‐Nogal et al, 2015; Malinich, 2019). Water flow is considered the main driver that initiates the morphological variation in fishes (Haas et al, 2010; Kelley et al, 2017; Shuai et al, 2018).…”

High Mobility and Flexibility in the Habitat Use of Early Juvenile Pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) Based on a Mark-Recapture Experiment

“…Dispersal in large freshwater systems is influenced by water currents, and previous studies have often considered juvenile fish to act similar to passive particles [2,3]. However, recent research suggests that juvenile fish dispersal may not be entirely passive [4]. The marine origin of percids [5] likely explains the existence of the early pelagic phase in their life cycle [3,6].…”