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Food of Yellow Perch, White Bass, Freshwater Drum, and Channel Catfish in Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Griswold, Bernard L. Tubb, Richard A. |
| Copyright Year | 1977 |
| Abstract | Food of yellow perch {Perca flavescens), freshwater drum (A plodinotus grunniens), channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), and white bass (M or one chrysops) collected from Sandusky Bay in 1971-72 were recorded and seasonal changes noted. Perch and drum rely on aquatic insect larvae, zooplankton and fish. Catfish were omnivorous feeding on a variety of dipterans, fish and cladocerans. The white bass were generally piscivorous. Each species ate seasonally distinct food based on availability. OHIO J. SCI. 77(1): 43, 1977 Sandusky Bay, the largest bay contiguous with Lake Erie, is a highly productive area on the Ohio shore of the lake. It has a surface area of 16.5 km and a maximum depth of 4 m (Hartley, 1975). The fish fauna of the bay is abundant and diverse; 74 species have been reported (Willis, 1974). The bay supports important commercial and sport fisheries. The average annual commercial catch from 1938-74 was 1154 metric tons. Although the bay encompasses only 2% of the total surface area of the Ohio waters of Lake Erie, 30% of the total Ohio landings were taken from Sandusky Bay in 1973 and 26% in 1974 (Hartley, 1975). Chapman (1955) estimated annual sport fish landings in excess of 100 metric tons and an annual fishing effort of over 180,000 man days. Quantitative biological information on Sandusky Bay fish is almost totally lacking, although D. C. Chandler and L. J. Bodenlos (1938) and Hartley (1975) discussed benthos and plankton in detail. Price (1963) discussed food of some fishes in Western Lake Erie but Manuscript received March 15, 1976 and in revised form October 14, 1976 (#76-26). A contribution of the Ohio Cooperative Fishery Research Unit: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ohio Division of Wildlife and The Ohio State University. Present address: Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331. combined bay samples with samples from the adjacent lake area, which masked potential differences. The bay as an environment for fish and most other aquatic animals is adversely affected by municipal wastes and agricultural runoff. Increased environmental stress through accelerated industrial and residential development of the watershed is anticipated (Hartley, 1975). This stress is indicated by great changes in relative abundance of fish species and a severe decline in species diversity in recent years (Willis, 1974). Given the importance of the fishery to the area, base-line biological information on fishes in the bay is necessary for evaluating future management practices. The objective of our study was to describe the food of four important sport and commercial fish species in Sandusky Bay: yellow perch, Perca flavescens (Mitchill); channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Raf.); white bass, Morone chrysops (Raf.); and freshwater drum, Aplodinotus grunniens Raf. METHODS AND MATERIALS Fish were collected primarily by bottom trawling at depths of 3 to 4 m along the southern shore of Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay. Johnson's Island is in the northwest corner of the bay, approximately 1.5 km west of the bay mouth. Samples of each species studied were collected in several 10-min. tows. The trawl, which had an 11 m headrope and a 0.64 cm (bar measure) mesh in the cod end, was fished from 43 44 BERNARD L. GRISWOLD AND RICHARD A. TUBB Vol. 77 the 17 m research vessel, Explorer, operated by the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Collections were made monthly from April through September 1971 and April through August 1972 (table 1). An additional collection was made by shore seine (2743 m long, 5.1 cm bar mesh) on 11 November 1972, on the south shore of Sandusky Bay east of Bayview, Ohio, midway between the eastern and western ends of the bay approximately 6 km west of Johnson's Island. (table 2). The emerald shiner, Notropis atherinoides Raf., was the most important fish in the diet. Two other groups of organisms were important in individual collections. Cladocerans, primarily Leptodora kindtii Focke, were important in July, and copepods contributed about 19% of the food of perch collected in September. Yellow perch shorter than TABLE 1 Numbers offish sampled for food, Sandusky Bay, 1971-72. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/22422/V077N1_043.pdf;jsessionid=F6DA2412EDFA10DB09A9AE5288F0CBAF?sequence=1 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/22422/V077N1_043.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
