A new observation of lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis spawning behaviour

Abstract

The lake whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis, dikameg in Anishinaabemowin, holds cultural importance, and is a mainstay of commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries throughout North America. In the Laurentian Great Lakes, declines in recruitment, since the early 2000s, have raised concerns among stewards and fishery managers. A more detailed understanding of the lake whitefish mating system could help resolve potential recruitment bottlenecks and thus inform appropriate stewardship actions. Herein, we describe, for the first time, a single lake whitefish spawning event captured using high-resolution underwater videography. From 94 h spent on the water, we captured and analyze a 4.5-min video clip that shows pre-mating, mating, and post-mating behaviours of a male and female lake whitefish pair in Little Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan. The clip shows a number of what we interpret as courtship, site-selection, and spawning behaviours culminating in release of about 20 eggs and milt in a single spawning event. Behaviours that included travelling, physical contact, chasing, circling, orienting, and gamete release are described and time-referenced to a video supplement. This single observation is part of a larger project to assess lake whitefish spawning behaviour in the wild but is noteworthy in that it provides new insights into the spawning behaviour of lake whitefish and appears consistent with reproductive behaviours observed in European coregonines.