Vegetative substrates used by larval northern pike in Rainy and Kabetogama Lakes, Minnesota

Abstract

Our objective was to identify characteristics of aquatic vegetative communities used as larval northern pike nursery habitat in Rainy and Kabetogama lakes, glacial shield reservoirs in northern Minnesota. Quatrefoil light traps fished at night were used to sample larval northern pike in 11 potential nursery areas. Larval northern pike were most commonly sampled among floating‐leaf burreed Sparganium fluctuans, common burreed Sparganium eurycarpum, sedges Carex spp., hybrid cattail Typha × glauca and wild rice Zizania palustris. A negative binomial model of light‐trap catches using the presence/absence data for 2012 from all 11 bays included water elevation and the presence of cattail as significant variables. Ultimately, the species of vegetation may not be as important as the physical quality or form of the vegetation in supplying feeding and hiding cover. The aquatic plant species and structural forms encountered by larval northern pike suggest they use nearly any vegetated cover available in early spring. Water‐level regulations that change availability of aquatic vegetation are likely to influence recruitment of northern pike to larger sizes.

First report of a Pliocene pike (Esocidae: Esox) in Transylvania, Romania

“…The lat i tu di nal dis tri bu tion of pikes is cor re lated with the mean an nual tem per a ture, not only for the re cent pikes but also for the Ce no zoic spe cies (Newbrey et al, 2008). Esox can be found in a wide va ri ety of hab i tats pre fer ring well-veg e tated wa ter bod ies or flooded vege ta tion (Raat, 1988;Bry, 1996;Kottelat and Freyhof, 2007;Timm and Pierce, 2015). An ex cep tion seems to be E. reichertii that pre fers cen tral parts of mod er ately flow ing rivers and lakes, with rocky bot toms (Crossman and Meade, 1977).…”

Modeling the effective spawning and nursery habitats of northern pike within a large spatiotemporally variable river landscape (St. Lawrence River, Canada)

“…Because the hydrological and biological models used were based on a weekly scale, we converted the early‐life history development to weeks instead of °C × days. The HSI nursery models were based on the product of three key variables (Vriese et al ; Casselman and Lewis ; Skov and Koed ; Cucherousset et al ; Timm and Pierce ): (1) water depth ranging from 39.0 to 100.0 cm, (2) current speed ≤ 10 cm s −1 , and (3) presence of previous year emergent vegetation that protect larvae from wave action. In early spring, northern pike spawn over moribund and emergent perennial plants from the previous growing season (Timm and Pierce ).…”

“…Because the hydrological and biological models used were based on a weekly scale, we converted the early-life history development to weeks instead of C × days. The HSI nursery models were based on the product of three key variables (Vriese et al 1994;Casselman and Lewis 1996;Skov and Koed 2004;Cucherousset et al 2009;Timm and Pierce 2015):…”

“…(1) water depth ranging from 39.0 to 100.0 cm, (2) current speed ≤ 10 cm s −1 , and (3) presence of previous year emergent vegetation that protect larvae from wave action. In early spring, northern pike spawn over moribund and emergent perennial plants from the previous growing season (Timm and Pierce 2015).…”

Relative Effectiveness of D‐Frame Dip Nets, Quatrefoil Light Traps, and Towed Ichthyoplankton Nets for Larval Muskellunge

“…The low larval Muskellunge catch observed by Sheffer (2019) prompted questions about whether larvae were absent (or at undetectable levels) or whether sampling gears were generally ineffective. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of trap-dip nets (i.e., a dip net swept within a rectangular trap of known surface area ;Forney 1968;Morrow et al 1997) and quatrefoil light traps (Zigler and Dewey 1995;Pierce et al 2006;Timm and Pierce 2015) for sampling larvae of the closely related Northern Pike Esox lucius, but we are unaware of any studies that provide recommendations on sampling gears for larval Muskellunge. Therefore, our objective was to determine the relative effectiveness of D-frame dip nets, quatrefoil light traps, and towed ichthyoplankton nets for capturing naturally produced larval Muskellunge in and around structurally complex habitats in a northern Wisconsin lake.…”