**ABSTRACT NOT FOR CITATION WITHOUT AUTHOR PERMISSION. The title, authors, and abstract for this completion report are provided below.  For a copy of the full completion report, please contact the author via e-mail at njohnson@usgs.gov.  Questions? Contact the GLFC via email at slrp@glfc.org or via telephone at 734-662-3209.**

 

 

Determine what fishes adult sea lamprey parasitized by barcoding DNA in their feces

 

Nicholas Johnson2, Sean Lewandoski3, Chris Merkes4

 

2U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Hammond Bay Biological Station, 11188 Ray Road, Millersburg, MI 49759

3U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3090 Wright Street, Marquette, MI 49855

4USGS, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, 2630 Fanta Reed Road, La Crosse, WI, 54603,  cmerkes@usgs.govsheries and Oceans Canada, 1219 Queen Street East, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2E5

 

December 2020

 

ABSTRACT:

 

Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) are invasive in the Laurentian Great Lakes, parasitize large-bodied fishes, and therefore are the focus of an international control program.  However, damage caused by sea lamprey to modern day fish stocks remains uncertain because diet analysis of juvenile sea lamprey has been challenging; they feed on blood and are difficult to randomly sample in the lakes.  Here, both challenges were addressed in a proof of concept study showing that DNA metabarcoding of fecal material can be used to identify the diet of actively feeding juvenile sea lamprey, and can also be used to determine what adult sea lamprey captured in streams fed on while parasitizing fish.  Fecal samples from juvenile sea lamprey that were feeding on lake trout in northern Lake Huron overwhelmingly contained lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) DNA (90%), while smaller percentages contained lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis; 5%) and longnose sucker (Catostomus catostomus; 5%) DNA.  Fecal samples from adult sea lamprey captured from a tributary to northern Lake Huron overwhelmingly contained longnose and white sucker DNA (Catostomus spp.; 80%), while a smaller percentage contained lake trout DNA (10%).  Diet composition of adult sea lamprey sampled in Black Mallard Creek was more diverse than juvenile diet composition.  DNA metabarcoding suggests that Catostomus spp. may be an important host fish in northern Lake Huron for sea lamprey prior to spawning.  Future research could investigate how diet varies across years and lakes and the prevalence and sources of DNA contamination.  Adding diet analysis to annual trapping assessments of adult sea abundance may be practical for identifying populations of sea lamprey that feed on highly valued fishes.