Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Technical Report No. 96-2, 1997

Diet of the Round Goby in the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair, 1993

Michael V. Thomas Michigan Department of Natural Resources Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station 33135 South River Road Mt. Clemens, MI 48045

Abstract. - The round goby Neogobius melanostomus, a species indigenous to the Black and Caspian Sea region of Europe, was first discovered in the St. Clair River in 1990. Since that time, they have expanded into Lake St. Clair and have also been collected from Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. Food habits of the round goby in the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair have not been previously described. The stomach and intestine of round gobies obtained in 1993 from St. Clair River anglers (84 fish) and Lake St. Clair survey trawls (39 fish) were examined. Only one of the 123 fish examined was empty. The most common food item consumed for both locations was the non-indigenous zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha. The only other important component of the diet for St. Clair River fish was caddisfly larvae. Zebra mussels were found in the diet of 96% of all St. Clair River round gobies; in contrast, the diet for Lake St. Clair round gobies consisted of amphipods, snails, ostracods, fingernail clams, caddisfly and chironomid larvae, in addition to zebra mussels. Although zebra mussels were found in 67% of all Lake St. Clair round gobies, the frequency of occurrence for several other food items, such as amphipods (63%), was relatively high. The study revealed little evidence of piscivory in round gobies from either area. Only one fish, a 28mm brook stickleback Culaea inconstans was found in the 123 round gobies examined.

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