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Changes in Lake Trout Growth Associated with Mysis relicta Establishment: A Retrospective Analysis Using Otoliths
Author(s) -
Stafford Craig P.,
Stanford Jack A.,
Hauer F. Richard,
Brothers Edward B.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(2002)131<0994:ciltga>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - otolith , flathead , trout , mysidacea , salvelinus , fishery , biology , population , fish <actinopterygii> , ecology , crustacean , demography , sociology
The establishment of the opossum shrimp Mysis relicta in Flathead Lake, Montana, was followed by a dramatic increase in the population of lake trout Salvelinus namaycush . Using otoliths, we compared lake trout growth before and after the arrival of M. relicta . The widths of annual increments 1‐3 were similar, but width generally declined in increments 4‐10 after the establishment of M. relicta . To calculate body size in the post‐ M. relicta fish, we used the relationship between body length and otolith radius. To retrospectively calculate body length for the pre‐ M. relicta fish (for which we lacked body sizes), we developed a simple empirical correction to account for the conservative nature of otolith growth rate relative to body growth rate.