You are here:
Offshore Fish Community: Ecological Interactions
Citation:
STOCKWELL, J. D., D. L. YULE, T. R. HRABIK, M. E. SIERSZEN, M. T. NEGUS, O. T. GORMAN, D. R. SCHREINER, AND M. P. EBENER. Offshore Fish Community: Ecological Interactions. Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Ann Arbor, MI, 2010.
Impact/Purpose:
To document research results.
Description:
The offshore (>80 m) fish community of Lake Superior is made up of predominately native species. The most prominent species are deepwater sculpin, kiyi, cisco, siscowet lake trout, burbot, and the exotic sea lamprey. Bloater and shortjaw cisco are also found in the offshore zone. Bloater is abundant in the offshore zone but appears restricted to depths shallower than 150 m (Selgeby and Hoff 1996; Stockwell et al. 2010), although it occuppied greater depths several decades ago (Dryer 1966; Peck 1977). Shortjaw is relatively rare in the offshore zone (Hoff and Todd 2004; Gorman and Hoff 2009; Gorman and Todd 2007). Lake whitefish is also known to frequent bathymetric depths >100 m (Yule et al. 2008b). In this chapter, we develop a conceptual model of the offshore food web based on data collected during 2001-2005 and on inferences from species interactions known for the nearshore fish community. We then develop a framework for examination of energy and nutrient movements within the pelagic and benthic habitats of the offshore zone and across the offshore and nearshore zones.