**The title, authors, and abstract for this completion
report are provided below. For a copy of the completion report, please
contact the GLFC via e-mail
or via telephone at 734-662-3209**
Identification
of Michigan Fishes Using Cleithra
June 2010
2
Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Marquette Fisheries Research Station,
484 Cherry Creek Rd., Marquette, MI 49855
3 Aquatic
Research Laboratory, Lake Superior State University,
650 W. Easterday Ave., Sault Sainte. Marie, MI 49783
ABSTRACT:
Diet analyses are a tool
commonly used by fisheries managers to determine feeding habits and food web interactions
of aquatic organisms. Many different methods are used to identify and quantify
diets of piscivores, but each method has unique advantages and disadvantages.
There are several characteristic bony structures which can be used to identify
partially digested fish, including otoliths, vertebrae, opercles,
and cleithra. In our diet
studies cleithra
have been the most useful structures for identifying partially digested fish,
yet little information exists on how to identify fish with this structure and
currently there are no published cleithra
identification guides. Diet studies are becoming an increasingly more
frequently used tool by fisheries managers as mortality sources for fish and foodweb shifts are experienced with ecosystem changes in
the Great Lakes. Thus, we expect this
guide to be highly valuable for
academic and agency staff for identifying fish in stomach contents. The
complete guide is available at http://www.glfc.org/pubs/SpecialPubs/2010-02.pdf.