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Abstract
The prevalence of round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) in the diet of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) >350 mm total length was investigated during winter, when round gobies occupy deeper water and have distributional overlap with lake whitefish. On average, round gobies were the most important diet item (46.6% by dry weight), followed by nonmollusk benthic invertebrates (21.3%) and unidentifiable fish parts (10.6%). Of whitefish that contained food, round gobies were the most frequently occurring diet item (49% occurrence); 44.3% of whitefish examined had empty stomachs. Although lake whitefish are not generally considered piscivores, altered lake whitefish diets have been observed during a recent period of high lake whitefish density and reduced abundance of historically important prey like Diporeia spp., which declined in the Great Lakes following the invasion of Dreissena polymorpha and D. bugensis. There is evidence that fish provide an important summer diet item for lake whitefish in some areas of the Great Lakes, and our study suggests round gobies are also an important component of lake whitefish diets during winter.
Acknowledgements
We extend our gratitude to Bret Alexander, John Propsom, and Hans Martin for collecting lake whitefish stomach samples for this study. We also thank Jake Vander Zanden for providing laboratory infrastructure and advising both authors on related projects. Finally, we thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. This work was funded by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute under grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, NOAA, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and from the State of Wisconsin. Federal grant number NA100AR4170070, project number R/AI-3.